hell yeah even of EA is utter garbage i hope dragon age doesnt get that bad im still waiting for bethesda to release elder scroll 6 😍😍 and i miss the mass effect too at the end of the renegade at mass 3 sheperd was still alive that scene alone gave me hope. i hope they continue that so they can make up for the bullshit of andromeda
I played more Dragon Inquisition than Elder's Scroll. The storyline, character arks and combat are what drove me to Dragon Age Inquisition. While Elder's provided an atmospheric and music just amazing. After playing for a while for story missions and quest if felt repetitive.
Javier Landaverde Skyrims biggest strengths are it’s customization, modding community, and sheer size of both game and the lore behind it. It’s biggest faults are easily it’s story, dialogue, acting, and character models. I agree that inquisition had far more focus on story telling, even if i didnt like all of the characters, I still really liked a few.
@@takayukifujinaga4338 I really am sorry for you man... I don't know how you can have any hope for Elder Scroll 6... If you really did love Skyrim then you know just as well as I do how horrible that engine is. it's a game engine that should have been shot in the head right after Skyrim. The problem is, that same engine is used in Elder Scrolls 6, and you have seen just how "good" it is in FO76... It's not... it's just garbage, garbage that is steaming of putrid stench of death, that is kept alive zaps.
I can't wait for Dragon age 4 and the next kotaku article explaining how the game was made in a year and basically all the same things as andromeda and Anthem so everyone can acted shocked again.
@Tony B There not completely wrong people use god of war as an example but the underline issue is that single player games arent bankable. The expectations player's have marked with higher cost (because let's be real anyone who says they can live with standard graphics as long as gameplay or story is tight is fucking liar) mean's it takes more and more money to keep a studio going even with Gow if it was just standard or did poorly the loss would have meant the end of everyone involved 5 years undone and millions wasted. I dont think its ethical but with the cost of making a game and the fact that games even after everthing else has seen inflation but games still cost 60 theres only one route so the question is are you willing spend 80 to 90 dollars on a game if they removed micro payment on add on online modes forever.
@@demonking-zm3rs People were fine with the prices of games back then, SNES costing $59.99 brand new back in the 90s. PSX games ranged from $44.99 for new games and if its a new multi disc game, it costed $59.99 I remember as RE2 Dual Shock was that price. N64 games, brand new title, $59.99 I remember as I bought Conker's Bad Fury Day and Perfect Dark back in early 2000s. Prices dropped due to the disc media being cheaper to produce in large volumes compared to cartridges, as PS2 and Dreamcast Era DVD disc was the new format costing at $49.99. Prices went back up as Blu Ray is the new media format at games being $59.99. I still can not for the love God understand how the fuck Nintendo can justify selling Switch Games thats basically a cheap ass flash memory card that can easily be produced for less than fucking $3 the games being sold as $59.99 and most of Switch games are ports from 3DS and 2DS. On top of that, digital copies of games should be at least $20 cheaper on PC ($39.99) due to it not being printed on physical media and boxes. Hell PC games use to cost $49.99 compared to console versions at $59.99, then all of a sudden online copies are the same damn price at $59.99. So yes, everyone was willing and was okay to pay those insane prices back in the 90s and early 2000s and adjusting it for inflation would cost anywhere near to $80-$100 sometimes. If I remember correctly some Nintendo games that are popular back then was priced at way more than $59.99 sometimes $69.99 or even $79.99.
@@demonking-zm3rs Publishers finding single player games to be less bankable vs outright saying single player games are dead because 'no one wants to play it anymore' are totally two different things. Single player games are very much alive, but it is the publishers and developers who swayed into multiplayer 'live service' games purely because of money reasons; they don't give a flying F about their customers except for coming out with half-baked games with loot box mechanisms. Some players WILL continue to buy good games years and decades after its launch, and just because YOU are the type who can't deal with great games with 'standard graphics', doesn't mean other players who do are 'fucking liars'. If everyone only cares for great graphics, then games like Undertale and To the Moon would've sunk the moment it was released. So, to answer your question about paying $80-$90 for a fully complete standalone game? Yes, I definitely would shell out that amount of money. What makes you think players of live service games with microtransactions aren't spending WAY more than $90 within a year? Those games costs an average of $60 for the base game alone. In the end, all the publishers care about is milking the players dry; to hell with releasing a complete game because some sucker will be willing to shell out money anyway.
@demon king45 "Single player games aren't bankable" Completely untrue. It would be more accurate to say that AAA single player games with millions poured into marketing will almost never make more of a profit than multiplayer games with microtransactions. You even go on to say that games need to cost more than $60 when games like Hollow Knight can sell at a fraction and be immensely successful. The problem is that many of these games are generic and forgettable. Just look at the recent rush of companies re-releasing old single player games. If a game has good gameplay, it'll generally get around. Also, this "lets be real you won't buy a game unless the graphics are good" is part of the problem when I say generic crap. Devs make forgettable garbage like Anthem that looks pretty, people act like that matters, and nobody actually wants to buy and play the game because the GAMEplay isn't fun. Meanwhile you have nonsense indie titles that easily acquire followings because of GAMEplay. To completely dismiss that is just illogical.
I played and finished DA Origins 7 TIMES, compared to ONCE for DA Inquisition. The game wasn't bad, it just didn't have same kind of charm and impact compared to the first game.
I think it would've benefited from a New Game+ mode where you just play through the story and don't have to worry about collecting materials, crafting and exploring every maps all over again.
@Annamária Szűcs Fully agree... New Game+ would've given the game greater replay value and fun of seeing different decision outcomes without all the grinding stuff. Such a missed opportunity.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth I'm a 100% with you. I really liked Inqusiition and really wanted to replay it, tried it 3 times and always given up after. Collecting materials and power points became a chore very quickly. It feels like playing an MMO not a Single player RPG.
Origins was the best but I genuinely enjoyed inquisition. The biggest issue I had though was replaying the story. The main choices in the game favor one over the other. Like picking the mages made it enjoyable but when I replayed and supported the Templars I just found it less fun since I didn't like them. Making decrees from the throne was always fun and being able to tweak the area and your equipment was awesome when you got it just right. The exploring could get tedious though andromeda was bad enough I dropped the game. At least in inquisition The map looked nice enough that walking round wasn't a total waste versus andromeda with big desert or big ice field.
@@annamari007 wanting to replay the game a second time a couple years ago I actually modded the shit out of the game, including maxing the skillpoints, resources etc. Must say it is a much better experience - at least this way you can focus on the story and characters instead of having to vacuum the whole damn map for ore, mushrooms and other meaningless nonsense.
@@Sonowske21 you absolutely can - inquisition is proof that although not optimal, it _can_ work. it's just a lot more work than choosing the "optimal" engine (if there is such a thing) for what you're trying to do
@@Ana_Ng And it wasn't optimal in inquisition because they didn't have the the time to program the features they needed into the damn thing, haha. Frostbite can absolutely work, if only people had the time and desire to repurpose it. Damn, EA should stop betting so hard on Frostbite. If it's a genre it can't handle, it's too much effort for too little reward.
@@Sonowske21 If you were a programmer, you would know. Remaking engine of any product, be it a memory management, office application, or a game to fit completely different role is never easy. In a game context... Games built on FB till that point did not have a save game for the world, their memory management does not count for massive open world with many usable items, roaming NPCs. The configurable mechanics of RPG elements that affects gameplay (buffs/debuffs) and physics, inventory beyond "grenades", etc. All this needs to be implemented AND it needs to fit the engine so it won't fall apart and break during loading... or that the loading will actually finish sometime (as opposed to loading screen simulator of Anthem). Often in order to fit such number of new features into "old" engine, it needs to be refactored, re-designed. And BioWare was not capable of doing that and DICE also had to support EA-Sports and their transition of FIFA and other games.
Frostbite. In the end its always frostbite and EA. I hope from the ashes that is bioware the past employees of bioware rise from ashes into a new and amazing studio to continue their original work.
You know Bioware was not in danger of being taken by EA no financial problems or any they just thought very very wrong that they will be better with EA. Who is better with EA?
@@ajshdhenskaka Well no financial pressure might mean they really waste tons of time. "Hey we get payed either way lets waste the the time and try all kinds of things the scrap them in the last years when the deadline comes because they can not be implemented. "
too bad they didn't have anything meaningful in them. I loved all the maps but never felt the need to play and know more like DA:O and ME 1-3(bad ending but still really gripping story)
The art in the game is great, soundtrack too, I just wish the maps felt alive or important instead of just background scenery to whatever action is taking place.
idk if they can manage to make a version of the FB enginge suitable for rpg then that would be pretty nice. But yeah after Andromeda and Anthem my hopes for Dreadwolf are low
The real time locked missions were a shitty way to extend the gameplay plus is almost pointless to have three way to complete said missions the end result would be the same.
@@brankomilenko4437 There are plenty of War Table missions that have different outcomes based on which advisor advice you use. For example, there is a company of adventurers that stay on the second floor of the tavern in Skyhold. You start their little side story by talking to them and then doing War Table missions. Based on which choices you make, they can end up being famous and skilled, give up adventuring life and leave the Inquisition, or even end up dying. I believe there's a total of 7 Missions that involve them, and to be able to do all of them, you have to follow a specific combination of advisor paths to see their story completed fully. Not only that, but there are other mission chains and questlines that can only be played/unlocked by choosing the correct advisor advice. And most missions, besides the gather resources/coin missions, have different rewards based on which advisor you chose.
I don't know. I really LOVED Inquisiton. When I played it, some time ago, I was very emotionaly invested in all characters and mainly my own Inquisitor. the story was great and the Trespasser DLC was superb! One of the best games I've ever played. Can't understand the amount of hate this game have. I don't remember finding any game breaking bugs or bugs at all (maybe something so meaningless that I forgot, but yeah). Just wanted to leave this here. As I said, this game doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Loved it from start to ending.
The hate comes from RPG players, specially those who played Origins when it came out. These players were hoping for another RPG game. Instead, Inquisition was made for a broader audience as an action/adventure game. For those who played it without a genre in mind, it's actually a fun game. Not something that will be on the Hall of Fame of games, but fun. But for those that played it with the RPG label in mind, it's bland and empty. It's one of those games that you have to play with an "open heart", take it by what it is.
Love the game but one major issue that never got fixed or changed was the Music. The way they decided to implement it and how it flow just break too fast and you end up playing for long stretch in silence, with the fight music triggering way too late or just never which is kinda sad when the game got a great soundtrack.
I think it's worth mentioning that almost every Battlefield game also comes out buggy as hell, even though Dice makes those and they invented Frostbite. BFV was the only one to NOT have a buggy launch (instead, it launched with 40% of a full game's content, lmao) The Deep Roads and Tresspasser DLCs were really good though. If the entire game had been like those 2 DLC, Inquisition would've been a lot better game.
BFV was and is buggy af. Not as bad as BF4 at Release in the sense that it doesn't constantly crash and freeze but definitely worse than BF1 at launch, which was, for a battlefield game, pretty polished.
@@MKR3238 That is just straight up not true. There were fireproof horses getting stuck in windows and shit in BF1, tanks and planes spinning in place and exploding or even better, fall through the ground, elite class kits randomly exploded, bayonet charge animations demolishing houses, or getting stuck forever, bullets stopping and getting stuck mid-air etc.. #onlyinbattlefield I don't like BFV either, but it was never as buggy or glitchy as any other BF game at launch.
@@MKR3238 Oh god please don't bring that up, it took them what 2 years to fix the game? God I preordered the gold edition and could barely play it due to bugs.
@@1InVader1 Elite Class kits randomly exploded? I didn't play much Bf1, it just stopped being fun to me and I gave up hope because I was bored in Battlefield Hardline as well.
DAI was the first Dragon Age game I played, and I'm glad I did. Even though I could see a lot of the problems that people had with it, the narrative and connection to some of the characters is primarily what kept me going. Since then, I've played it several times over and still find little quests/things that I hadn't noticed in the playthroughs before.
Same here. I love exploring in games, and there were so many little touches and details that I couldn't wait to see more of the story, find out more about the characters, fill out more of the map... I definitely could tell when the game was just wasting my time, though. The game was happy to pile intersting loot onto your lap, but stuff like the war room missions were too basic. Still, I love this game to pieces. I beat it twice. I actually wish I had played Origins first, and played it back when it first released. People all dump on Inquisition and hold up Origins as some kind of religious rapture. that game was too old, too clunky, and too ugly for me to get into. Especially after beautiful, streamlined Inquisition.
It's good if you take it by what it is: an action/adventure game. As so, it's a fun game. Not groundbreaking, didn't set the bars for nothing, but fun. However, for those that played Origins and were expecting a RPG game, Inquisition was just a bland and empty game.
When Dragon Age tried to jump into the open world bandwagon kickstarted by Skyrim in 2011 with a single-player mmo design that ended up overshadowed by the Witcher 3 six month after release.
I would much rather have Origins style "closed world" experience with a lot of closed off zones that are well designed gameplay and story pacing wise, than an empty open world full of MMO style mandatory grind quests like Inquisition had.
Enjoyed Inquisition but there was one quest to open a tomb ( i think it was or a ruins) took most of the game finding items in areas ....and my god it was anticlimatic the quest ending and rewards were just lousy (and actually reminded me a lot of the tomb quest in Anthem)
lmao I played that game so many years ago and the few things I remember from it was that quest, ended up using cheat engine to open the tomb, I immediately stopped playing after I finished that quest, fuck that
Oh my god. *That* area. I almost forgot it existed, because when I realized how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be, I didn't even bother with it anymore. Whatever treasure waited in there wasn't worth the trouble.
If i'm not mistaken it was an elven cemetary that leaded to the tomb and there was no other way (unless using cheat engine) to go there but desecrate the tombs and loot a key to open the door. Just imagine how immersive that was to do this while playing a dalish elf the 1st time -_-
@@ZrodyApo I think it's another quest. A sidequest. You didn't have to open it though, you didn't have to desecrate the tombs. When I did and some guy was like "yo what the fuck were you doing with our ancestors' tomb" I felt like an idiot and kind of a dick, pretty clever from the writers. Just because it's written on your quest UI doesn't mean you shouldn't question what you're doing.
DA Origins will always be my top game in the Dragon Age series. I enjoyed the immersive world and most of the characters. I enjoyed actual strategics needed to win boss fight and how your characters background and choices affected the story. DA Inquisition was a decent follow up but, I never felt any real excitement as the Inquisitor aside the occasional party banter. I remember Bioware making statements about what would be featured in the game like customizing Strongholds for example but, sadly these were not implemented. Choices felt pretty "left or right" and i felt like they could have expanded on the choice factor more. EA/Bioware also did a big disservice to the players with older consoles (PS3/Xbox 360) by only making the DLC exclusive to newer consoles at the time.
Skyhold customization was in there. It mostly boiled down to choosing how to decorate the great hall, plus a few other tweaks that don't make any real difference, but it is there.
Still feel as does the fanbase that *DA origins* had the better charm, gameplay, dialogue and so on. Inquisition was okay but alot of dialgoue was flat, the areas were may too open and empty, the classes dulled down it was just a mix of bad things with good visuals and even then sometimes my character would clip into the ground sometimes.
Disagree on that one. Plot wise, Origins was more solid, but character and dialogue wise, Inquisition was more memorable and characters were better written.
@@mrrd4444 I think we all agree plot wise, origins beats out Inquisition. But I think characters and dialogue were more interesting in origins. I think a lot of heart and soul went into the story, characters, and plot of DAO, graphics and gameplay at the time were not a huge issue. But with newer games, there seems to be a shift towards improving those two, and somehow that effort is taken away from the characters. Inquisition is by no means a bad game, but it didn't give me that same allure as origins.
@@mrrd4444 there was nothing memorable with inquisition dialogue, everyone sounds like a dense idiot, or just flat out dull, not to mention past character making an appearance doesnt sound like them at all as in the attitude and mannerism doesnt reflect to the first dragon age, origins team banter was more down to earth and solid, they provide more substance in the story line.
@@mrrd4444 DAI as my first DA game made me hate most of the characters. DAO had decent characters overall, but DA2 and DAI just felt so hollow compared to the previous Bioware casts.
@@PatrickOMulligan hehe yeah I really disliked most of the characters in DO:I as well. My main issue with the game was the open empty spaces (does every game have to be some open world game?) and early 2000s era mmo fetch quests.
I’ve never felt the urge to keep playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. The maps are too big and not enough interesting content to keep me going. I’ve made it all the way to the castle part for the inquisition but the amount of quest grinding to keep on the main questline path was too much for me. I never had this problem with Origins, which I’ve played through multiple times. Hell, I’ve even beat Dragon Age 2 once thinking the game would get better only to find out it’s just kirkwall and the surrounding land
I beat it about a month ago. 100% Completion, and let me say that I don't have any desire to go back a replay it. Even to explore alternate dialogue. I am HEAVILY invested in the narrative, so I'm still excited to play Dragon Age 4. But if it ends up playing anything like Inquisition, it will definitely be a one-and-done playthrough for me.
Same here. It's because Inquisition is an action game pretending to be a RPG. So you expect more than bashing random critters, but it never really shows.
Still one of my favorite games ever. I started replaying after seeing the videos about the first 2 games, and while it's not a perfect game, the story more than makes up for its deficiencies.
What kept me playing were the characters and the funny cutscenes with them, because once I got bored exploring the empty maps and abandoned the game for months before returning and finally completing the game ... Now I'm going to play in Nightmare mode
My biggest complaint with DAI... too clean. Origins and 2 were so gritty and felt dangerous, while inquisition was pretty and yippee. Not even dragons seemed threatening in that game.
So, first that’s your opinion, secondly at least it didn’t look like fairy world. Obviously it was inferior to one and is in my own opinion worse than inquisition, but it didn’t suck, it was a solid game, with solid characters, solid story and below average combat. It only “sucked” in comparison to the other titles in the series.
@@futureparagon3746 Dragons were definitely threatening. It's just that they all were designed to be challenged at specific levels, and the open-world style of Inquisition allowed the player to over level enemies and make combat encounters a joke. The only exceptions that were still difficult no matter what level you were was the Boss fight right before the transition to Skyhold, mainly because the player was hard capped at level 13 due to there not being enough resources to level any higher than that, and the level 23 High Dragon. But even the level 23 Dragon is easy when you approach it with the right strategy. But yeah, the Dragons are difficult when faced at the right level or with the appropriate trial activated that keeps all enemies at your level. It's just that people tend to over prepare for bosses like them and end up making it super easy.
I love Inquisition, I've played it many times, recently started a replay of my canon playthrough. It's not without flaws but what game is? Now, technical issues aside, gamer nostalgia plays a huge role in how BioWare games are perceived as well and I rarely see it mentioned, so many people refuse to move past Origins and yes it's a fine game but it's not and should not be held up like it's The One. Game development moves on, whether we like it or not devs will try different things and mistakes will be made. I trust by now all people involved know very well what a nightmare Frostbite is and they'll do what they must for the next game to work, we'll see. But it's undeniable some people have made a celebrated sport out of hating anything remotely EA-related so they'll hit BioWare regardless of how they perform, I think they have suffered equally if not more because of that hatred than the actual technical flaws (what was done to Andromeda in regards to the initial animations was plain bullying) . It's mentioned throughout this video and the DA2 one what a negative effect fans' "criticism" has on the team and how that more often than not impacts badly on the final product. There's constructive criticism and feedback, and there's throwing death threats at animators because you don't like how a character's facial animations look like on an E3 trailer, not quite the same thing. Meanwhile, most comments here are about how Origins is the best DA game, and little else. It'd be an improvement for all if players examined their own reactions with the same scrutiny and vitriol they do game devs. (As for the whole TW3 thing, it got extremely tiring very quickly, if you were on the BioWare forums at that time you know how bad it was, fans don't usually ruin things for me but TW3 fans did, badly)
TW3 fanboys were just awful in general. Crybabies who couldn’t handle legitimate criticism of the game (I’ve experienced all kinds of bugs, some game breaking, through three playthroughs of it but their best rebuttal was always “well it never happened to me so it’s a 10/10 and you’re wrong”) dishing out every praise for it and threw all sorts of crap at other games in the same genre. I’m a bigger DA fan and acknowledged that TW3 is the better game between it and Inquisition but I’d rather replay Inquisition than go through all the motions with TW3 again (it has more variety in side quests sure but fetch quests are still fetch quests) just because of how its fanboys are pretty much some of the worst gatekeepers that remind one of the early Dark Souls community lmao.
@@darthportus it was a cool area until you realized you had to go through like 4 different areas. It just lasted a bit too long. If it was one area where you grabbed companions on the way through it would have been solid.
In spite of its many problems, I loved Inquisition. Something about it just struck me at the right time and the right state of mind i was in. I'm not sure I'll ever go back and replay it, but I'll alway have very fond memories of my time with it
@@dominicwilson1498 I think because of anthem we will. BioWare is working on a live service dragon age game in a similar style to anthem. This is supposed to replace anthem as it's been quite the train wreck and dragon age is the only profitable IP they haven't ruined yet. The problem is it'll most likely be quite bad. Same engine and same team so... same issues.
Just imagine what would've been if EA hadn't pushed for an early release in both DA2 and Inquisition AND the Frostbite engine hadn't been such a headache from the beginning plus had all the tools necessary to build a decent RPG, yeah....truly sad.
Bioware is as much to blame as EA here, Inquisition was even further away from Origins than 2 was, you read interviews and they just have no damn clue, origins was their best game but they keep distancing themselves from it.
Origins doesn't attract the casual gamer. It hasn't "ages well" so they distance themselves from it. Its hard coming up with something in the middle...something old and new fans find enjoyable. Origins will always be my favorite though
@@HighKicks2yaTeef And yet an Origin-esque game like Divinity Original sin became both commercial and critical success, saving Larian Studios from brink of collapse and sending them to forefront of rpg gaming industry. It's ironic that Larian has now the right for Baldur's Gate while Bioware seems destined to be shot down by the EA.
It's simple. The console market, they dumbed everything down so that they could sell more copies there. I heard that Origins didn't sell well earlier so they made everything console centered including the story.
@@HighKicks2yaTeef and that's the main problem, the casual gamer might buy one or two of your games, serious gamers would buy all your games, it's a Scooby doo mystery.
You didn't even mention how they completely removed healing from the game and replaced it with odd mechanics... Probably because it wasn't a wide complaint, but damn did I hate that part of inquisition.
Again, I love this series, and loved Dragon Age Inquisition. I still haven't played the DLC for it, but definitely will before the next installment comes out. The side-questing was tedious as hell at times, but it was still my goty pick that year. Fantastic job on this video as usual!
I liked all of the DLC but Trespasser is fantastic. It gives the story a proper ending that I think the game itself lacked. Definitely pick it up when you get the chance.
Yeah Trespasser alone makes the game better. All the DLC is good and Hakkon is a good proof of concept of what an ideal version of those open world zones from the main game would have been. But Trespasser is like a brilliant mini expansion that makes the whole game feel better just by capping it with it.
Agree with describing the backlash against DA2 and ME3 as toxic. If the community had just provided feedback and criticism to Bioware, that would've been fine. But no one should suffer death-threats and targeted online harassment for making a somewhat contentious game.
You make great points. But I will say, the romance and relationship options in this game were AMAZING. They felt real and interactive- even beyond the witcher (since you are playing yourself and not an established character). Also, the part when everyone starts singing The Dawn will come was EPIC and emotional. I hope so much the next game prioritizes intimate, individual, narrative moments. I'm afraid it won't.
Another informative video. I've been trying to get friends interested in the behind-the-scenes of BioWare to read Blood, Sweat and Pixels, but this nicely highlights some key info. Thanks for another great vid!
Great documentary. Dragon Age Inquisition was personally my favorite of the series. I enjoyed the new open world approach, though i do wish it had more life to it.
- Dragon Age: Origins ("A true Old School RPG") - - Dragon Age II ("That one forgettable rushed mess, except & only for Varric") - - Dragon Age: Inquisition ("Not bad at all, except for everything related to the Frostbite 3 ENGINE of course") -
This video perfectly explained everything I felt playing the game. While it was a sale success and a huge improvement over DA2, I can't shake the feeling that the game definitely doesn't have the "oomph" that the original DA had, but it is not all because of the engine. The story of the game is really good, very well written and hooks you in. The level design is also fantastic, and the graphics (specially on the PC) are equally impressive, yet the most important aspect feels shallow and clunky: The gameplay. When you play it you can clearly see that the engine wasn't made for an RPG, the combat and even general movement feels clunky and completely robotic. When I played it back then, I was really let down by how weak every character seemed to be, regardless of their class or focus, every enemy seemed like it took two to three times the amount of damage that they should really take to die. If you pile all members of your party on one enemy it feels about right but individual characters feel extremely weak, taking 20-30 swings of a sword or arrows to die. To me it seems like they wanted to streamline the feeling of the game, where in DAO you had mages capable of summoning firestorms and miasmas that incapacitaded huge areas, everything in Inquisition seems more bland, a mage is just as weak as a tank warrior in the amount of damage it deals. And don't even get me started on the action bar that went from having 40 slots to having only 8 this time around (thanks again consoles). Granted most of the stuff I mentioned lean more towards design choices rather than technical ones, but still the gameplay and the overall emptyness of the open world really broke the game for me. I hope with all my heart that they are able to see those problems and work on them for the next game. Even if the negative criticism made them insecure, AAA RPGs need to be grand and take risks to stand out, otherwise you'll end up with something bland like Inquisition was, a true "Ehh, I guess the game was okay".
DAI was the first Dragon Age game I played and the first mediocre Bioware I played as well. Played DAO next and thought it was the best rpg ever made. Sigh.
Oh waw, what the hell?! GOD DAMN COINCIDENCE. I started playing this game last week after gathering dust on my library since 2017 and finally decided to give it a proper shot, AND I HAVE BEEN PLAYING IT NONSTOP EVERYDAY COMPLETELY ADDICTED, and now you upload this video. Incredible.
15:20 "it still a tremendous improvement over 2" that's easy when 80% of DA 2 is copy paste, with all areas looking the same, and DA2 removeing gameplay from the first one. if they just make unique areas + add back the things they removed from the first one the game would be a tremendous improvement over 2 and it would be no improvement over origins.
Dragon Age Origins was a masterpiece. Dragon Age 2 was a disappointment but still a good game with a great plot but very lacking because of “cough cough” EA. Dragon Age Inquisition however is really pretty but extremely hollow and exhausting. I kinda hate it personally, but only because I know that Bioware could have made it so much better than what it was. In my opinion. PS: The Witcher 3 kinda outshined all games of 2016 and 17... and 18 and pretty much still. 😂😂😂
EA=the example of everything wrong in the gaming industry CD Projekt Red=the example if everything right in the gaming industry Bioware=talented studio capable of making legendary games but are hampered with poor management decisions and ridiculous time frames
Bioware = What would happen if CD Projekt Red was bought by EA. CD Projekt Red = Bioware before being bought by EA. EA = Proof that Monopolies can legitimately kill industries.
I would agree with this if it's considering past bioware. Past bioware made amazing games. But not only has EA bought them BUT all the amazing talent that made those games have long since left. So it's not completely EAs fault that Bioware is now shit. You gotta blame the talentless hacks that work there now too.
@@zoeymorrigan6521 - Bioware made great games when they wasn't owned by anyone. They could do whatever they wanted. Once EA bought them all of a sudden they had to follow orders and do what they were told. Go look at their rpg's before EA bought them and after.
@@kummakummakummakummakummac8606 yeah until anthem when ea bought bioware they were only really making da and me sequels. compare to before they were bought we had baldurs gate, neverwinter nights, kotor , and jade empire. bioware in general are broken up into 3 eras. the dnd era [ bg, nwn, kotor] the original ip era, [jade empire, mass effect trilogy, dao and 2] and we are now currently in the frostbite era [ dai onwards].
Oh heck yea! I just started to replay this game the other day. I love it. I wish this narrator was in the game somehow. His voice would've been awesome in this game.
@@danceanddestroy No reasonable person would disagree with that. The problem is that fair, negative opinions are lumped in together with the vitriol and it's all labeled as "toxic". Cool name, by the way.
Even though Inquisition is my favorite of the series (since it tried to fix some of the issues I've had with the first two games), I do agree that the open-world aspect along with trying a new engine was an unwise decision for Bioware. And it does suck that they do seem weirdly fixated on that engine despite knowing the shit the crew had to endure through those years. I do hope that they get their act together, even though the Video Game industry is a hellscape that no wonder people put focus on indie games now.
When these studios suffer from stupid decisions coming down from the top, I struggle to grasp how you see developers laid off and studios closed. How do these braindead, narcissistic executives that make 6 figures or more KEEP their jobs? They have been forcing that damn Frostbite engine on teams that have no reason to use it, and they still get their high salaries, corporate kickbacks and bonuses every year. Clowns at the top make more than a handful of hard working developers and they're getting paid to mismanage projects and stick their nose into things they have zero clue about. They should all go work at a bank. All they understand is money - they got no right operating in the games industry.
I'm always impressed with the quality of these videos and the insights you present about development of these projects. How long does it take to find, say, the footage from studio tours? Great job as always, guys!
I couldn't play DA:I in earnest. I started multiple playthroughs, with various different characters, but I just couldn't. I think the longest one I managed was 6 hours with a Qunari. There was just something missing from the game for me. To this day, I haven't been able to get into it.
Same. DA1 and even DA2 for all its faults, had really good party members, a sense of humor and excellent banter. It felt like in DA3 the charm was missing. It felt like a single player MMO. It felt like the good campaign, if it even existed, was buried under a mountain of busywork.
The first time I played DAI, I quit mid-Hinterlands out of sheer boredom. I went back about a year later and this time skipped most of the side quests and just stuck to the main quest and companion quests. Played this was, DAI is easily on par with TW3 and quite awesome.
Man, I feel so sorry for the devs feeling all that pressure from the dickhead "fans" that got so riled up about DAII. Sure, it's not perfect but I still really enjoy it. Absolutely loved DA:I and can't wait for the next game. I always thought Frostbite was forced on them, not that they chose to use it. Wonder why they didn't switch after finding out how hard it would be to use?
I still really like DA:I :3 It's the one I've spent the most time playing and always like to return to on occassion. It's not perfect by any means and I can totally understand the criticism, but I still love it
It's sad that DAI has to forever live behind the shadow of one of the greatest games of all time. Let's face it, any RPG game of this era will come up short when you compare it to TW3 (2015) or RDR2 (2018).
just wanna clarify one wrong statement in the video: using an external engine like unity or unreal in no way has an increased risk of leaking anything, in the same way as using simplygon or bink video doesn't have any increased risk of leaking anything. the only way of anything leaking is A: someone hacks your internal servers B: someone from the inside transfers data offside on both of these factors, what engine you use has absolutely no impact.
Should mention the fact that there are 2 books you have have to read in order to fully understand the story and some characters which was never advertised so youd only find out if you bothered to look it up
All of the 'Killer Bees' are falling: Bioware, Bethesda, and Bungie. This is a sad era. However, CD Project Red is rising, so there is always hope. Single player games are alive and well.
I've started playing dai again after completing it all those years ago. I was one of the ones to drop it pretty quick when witcher 3 came out. (Feel pretty bad now 🙄) I've just bought all the dlc and started a female mage aswell as reading a lot more through the codex entries. I'm having a blast and can't seem to put it down, regardless of it's shortcomings and filler. Still a solid game!
I like everything about Inquisition except for the main story, the characters are all interesting and have great interactions and the maps are absolutely beautiful although the Hinterlands might've been a bit too large. I love that The Hissing Wastes actually feel like a barren wasteland, that I kinda get a little uncomfortable in the Fallow Mire and how amazed I was about how beautiful maps like the Emerald Graves, Forbidden Oasis, Val Royeaux (although small), Frostback Basin and the Deep Roads were. Although there are probably many RPG games that have objectively better mechanics and stories, this game still holds a special place in my heart after ~800 hours of playing time
There's enough room in my heart for Elder Scrolls, Witcher and Dragon Age games.
hell yeah even of EA is utter garbage i hope dragon age doesnt get that bad
im still waiting for bethesda to release elder scroll 6 😍😍
and i miss the mass effect too at the end of the renegade at mass 3 sheperd was still alive that scene alone gave me hope.
i hope they continue that so they can make up for the bullshit of andromeda
I played more Dragon Inquisition than Elder's Scroll. The storyline, character arks and combat are what drove me to Dragon Age Inquisition. While Elder's provided an atmospheric and music just amazing. After playing for a while for story missions and quest if felt repetitive.
Javier Landaverde Skyrims biggest strengths are it’s customization, modding community, and sheer size of both game and the lore behind it. It’s biggest faults are easily it’s story, dialogue, acting, and character models. I agree that inquisition had far more focus on story telling, even if i didnt like all of the characters, I still really liked a few.
@@takayukifujinaga4338 I really am sorry for you man... I don't know how you can have any hope for Elder Scroll 6... If you really did love Skyrim then you know just as well as I do how horrible that engine is. it's a game engine that should have been shot in the head right after Skyrim.
The problem is, that same engine is used in Elder Scrolls 6, and you have seen just how "good" it is in FO76... It's not... it's just garbage, garbage that is steaming of putrid stench of death, that is kept alive zaps.
@@takayukifujinaga4338 lol how exactly was inquisition not "that bad"? Its shit and id rather go play origins for the 9th playthrough
I can't wait for Dragon age 4 and the next kotaku article explaining how the game was made in a year and basically all the same things as andromeda and Anthem so everyone can acted shocked again.
@Tony B There not completely wrong people use god of war as an example but the underline issue is that single player games arent bankable. The expectations player's have marked with higher cost (because let's be real anyone who says they can live with standard graphics as long as gameplay or story is tight is fucking liar) mean's it takes more and more money to keep a studio going even with Gow if it was just standard or did poorly the loss would have meant the end of everyone involved 5 years undone and millions wasted. I dont think its ethical but with the cost of making a game and the fact that games even after everthing else has seen inflation but games still cost 60 theres only one route so the question is are you willing spend 80 to 90 dollars on a game if they removed micro payment on add on online modes forever.
@@demonking-zm3rs People were fine with the prices of games back then, SNES costing $59.99 brand new back in the 90s. PSX games ranged from $44.99 for new games and if its a new multi disc game, it costed $59.99 I remember as RE2 Dual Shock was that price. N64 games, brand new title, $59.99 I remember as I bought Conker's Bad Fury Day and Perfect Dark back in early 2000s. Prices dropped due to the disc media being cheaper to produce in large volumes compared to cartridges, as PS2 and Dreamcast Era DVD disc was the new format costing at $49.99. Prices went back up as Blu Ray is the new media format at games being $59.99.
I still can not for the love God understand how the fuck Nintendo can justify selling Switch Games thats basically a cheap ass flash memory card that can easily be produced for less than fucking $3 the games being sold as $59.99 and most of Switch games are ports from 3DS and 2DS. On top of that, digital copies of games should be at least $20 cheaper on PC ($39.99) due to it not being printed on physical media and boxes. Hell PC games use to cost $49.99 compared to console versions at $59.99, then all of a sudden online copies are the same damn price at $59.99.
So yes, everyone was willing and was okay to pay those insane prices back in the 90s and early 2000s and adjusting it for inflation would cost anywhere near to $80-$100 sometimes. If I remember correctly some Nintendo games that are popular back then was priced at way more than $59.99 sometimes $69.99 or even $79.99.
@@demonking-zm3rs Publishers finding single player games to be less bankable vs outright saying single player games are dead because 'no one wants to play it anymore' are totally two different things. Single player games are very much alive, but it is the publishers and developers who swayed into multiplayer 'live service' games purely because of money reasons; they don't give a flying F about their customers except for coming out with half-baked games with loot box mechanisms.
Some players WILL continue to buy good games years and decades after its launch, and just because YOU are the type who can't deal with great games with 'standard graphics', doesn't mean other players who do are 'fucking liars'. If everyone only cares for great graphics, then games like Undertale and To the Moon would've sunk the moment it was released.
So, to answer your question about paying $80-$90 for a fully complete standalone game? Yes, I definitely would shell out that amount of money. What makes you think players of live service games with microtransactions aren't spending WAY more than $90 within a year? Those games costs an average of $60 for the base game alone.
In the end, all the publishers care about is milking the players dry; to hell with releasing a complete game because some sucker will be willing to shell out money anyway.
@demon king45
"Single player games aren't bankable"
Completely untrue. It would be more accurate to say that AAA single player games with millions poured into marketing will almost never make more of a profit than multiplayer games with microtransactions. You even go on to say that games need to cost more than $60 when games like Hollow Knight can sell at a fraction and be immensely successful.
The problem is that many of these games are generic and forgettable. Just look at the recent rush of companies re-releasing old single player games. If a game has good gameplay, it'll generally get around.
Also, this "lets be real you won't buy a game unless the graphics are good" is part of the problem when I say generic crap. Devs make forgettable garbage like Anthem that looks pretty, people act like that matters, and nobody actually wants to buy and play the game because the GAMEplay isn't fun. Meanwhile you have nonsense indie titles that easily acquire followings because of GAMEplay. To completely dismiss that is just illogical.
@@demonking-zm3rs look at pillars of eternity and how well that did
The highest quality videos you can find on UA-cam
Another year pass and channel still not getting well diserve atention. Underated :P
and yet, UA-cam will still demonotize channels for whatever stupid reason.
There is noclip
With the exception of RedLetterMedia, yes.
yes that's true.
5:46 never forget Marauder Shields, the one who tried to save us
Fs in the chat bois
I played and finished DA Origins 7 TIMES, compared to ONCE for DA Inquisition. The game wasn't bad, it just didn't have same kind of charm and impact compared to the first game.
I think it would've benefited from a New Game+ mode where you just play through the story and don't have to worry about collecting materials, crafting and exploring every maps all over again.
@Annamária Szűcs Fully agree... New Game+ would've given the game greater replay value and fun of seeing different decision outcomes without all the grinding stuff. Such a missed opportunity.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth I'm a 100% with you. I really liked Inqusiition and really wanted to replay it, tried it 3 times and always given up after. Collecting materials and power points became a chore very quickly. It feels like playing an MMO not a Single player RPG.
Origins was the best but I genuinely enjoyed inquisition. The biggest issue I had though was replaying the story. The main choices in the game favor one over the other. Like picking the mages made it enjoyable but when I replayed and supported the Templars I just found it less fun since I didn't like them. Making decrees from the throne was always fun and being able to tweak the area and your equipment was awesome when you got it just right. The exploring could get tedious though andromeda was bad enough I dropped the game. At least in inquisition The map looked nice enough that walking round wasn't a total waste versus andromeda with big desert or big ice field.
@@annamari007 wanting to replay the game a second time a couple years ago I actually modded the shit out of the game, including maxing the skillpoints, resources etc. Must say it is a much better experience - at least this way you can focus on the story and characters instead of having to vacuum the whole damn map for ore, mushrooms and other meaningless nonsense.
Q: How do I develop an Open-World Role-playing Game in an engine that isn't designed for neither of the two genres?
A: You don't. Period.
@The Four Horsemen but anthem use frost engine and that game looks pretty...
pretty shitty
Who's to say you can't expand the engine to accommodate different genres of gameplay with new tools?
@@Sonowske21 you absolutely can - inquisition is proof that although not optimal, it _can_ work. it's just a lot more work than choosing the "optimal" engine (if there is such a thing) for what you're trying to do
@@Ana_Ng And it wasn't optimal in inquisition because they didn't have the the time to program the features they needed into the damn thing, haha. Frostbite can absolutely work, if only people had the time and desire to repurpose it.
Damn, EA should stop betting so hard on Frostbite. If it's a genre it can't handle, it's too much effort for too little reward.
@@Sonowske21 If you were a programmer, you would know.
Remaking engine of any product, be it a memory management, office application, or a game to fit completely different role is never easy.
In a game context... Games built on FB till that point did not have a save game for the world, their memory management does not count for massive open world with many usable items, roaming NPCs. The configurable mechanics of RPG elements that affects gameplay (buffs/debuffs) and physics, inventory beyond "grenades", etc. All this needs to be implemented AND it needs to fit the engine so it won't fall apart and break during loading... or that the loading will actually finish sometime (as opposed to loading screen simulator of Anthem).
Often in order to fit such number of new features into "old" engine, it needs to be refactored, re-designed. And BioWare was not capable of doing that and DICE also had to support EA-Sports and their transition of FIFA and other games.
Frostbite. In the end its always frostbite and EA.
I hope from the ashes that is bioware the past employees of bioware rise from ashes into a new and amazing studio to continue their original work.
You know Bioware was not in danger of being taken by EA no financial problems or any they just thought very very wrong that they will be better with EA. Who is better with EA?
@@arhambliss8606 "Who is better with EA?"
That would be the higher-ups in the company that was bought out.
EA has been quite generous with Bioware, their failures are their own doing.
@@ajshdhenskaka Well no financial pressure might mean they really waste tons of time. "Hey we get payed either way lets waste the the time and try all kinds of things the scrap them in the last years when the deadline comes because they can not be implemented. "
The "Only human" line would have been perfect for a Mass Effect Andromeda video.
its true that frostbite engine was very difficult to work with but damn the game looks very beautiful, i stop many time just to admire the scenery
If only there was a way to better use the camera so I can actually admire the beauty (well I can thanks to mods but you know)
too bad they didn't have anything meaningful in them. I loved all the maps but never felt the need to play and know more like DA:O and ME 1-3(bad ending but still really gripping story)
Currently playing DAI and Storm Coast is such an amazing map, especially when walking by the coastline.
I wish the Fallow Mire would’ve been bigger
The art in the game is great, soundtrack too, I just wish the maps felt alive or important instead of just background scenery to whatever action is taking place.
The fact that Bioware continues to use the frostbite engine for RPGs is a very bad sign for the future of our favorite series.
@Cure4Living Inquisition was just added to Steam
idk if they can manage to make a version of the FB enginge suitable for rpg then that would be pretty nice. But yeah after Andromeda and Anthem my hopes for Dreadwolf are low
Inquisition is a really good 40 hour game stuck in the body of a 100 hour game.
Thats the perfect way of saying it
i just downloaded it and its such an amazing game so far
I don't agree 100% but this is very succinct way of getting at the main problems the game does suffer from.
The real time locked missions were a shitty way to extend the gameplay plus is almost pointless to have three way to complete said missions the end result would be the same.
@@brankomilenko4437 There are plenty of War Table missions that have different outcomes based on which advisor advice you use. For example, there is a company of adventurers that stay on the second floor of the tavern in Skyhold. You start their little side story by talking to them and then doing War Table missions.
Based on which choices you make, they can end up being famous and skilled, give up adventuring life and leave the Inquisition, or even end up dying. I believe there's a total of 7 Missions that involve them, and to be able to do all of them, you have to follow a specific combination of advisor paths to see their story completed fully.
Not only that, but there are other mission chains and questlines that can only be played/unlocked by choosing the correct advisor advice. And most missions, besides the gather resources/coin missions, have different rewards based on which advisor you chose.
"Only Human", Yet still expected to make miracles with Bioware magic.
Exactly this.
Don't send mages to do priests' work. Andraste won't be pleased.
I believe that was what call "Hubris"
I don't know. I really LOVED Inquisiton. When I played it, some time ago, I was very emotionaly invested in all characters and mainly my own Inquisitor. the story was great and the Trespasser DLC was superb! One of the best games I've ever played.
Can't understand the amount of hate this game have. I don't remember finding any game breaking bugs or bugs at all (maybe something so meaningless that I forgot, but yeah).
Just wanted to leave this here. As I said, this game doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Loved it from start to ending.
The hate comes from RPG players, specially those who played Origins when it came out. These players were hoping for another RPG game. Instead, Inquisition was made for a broader audience as an action/adventure game. For those who played it without a genre in mind, it's actually a fun game. Not something that will be on the Hall of Fame of games, but fun. But for those that played it with the RPG label in mind, it's bland and empty. It's one of those games that you have to play with an "open heart", take it by what it is.
thank you
Love the game but one major issue that never got fixed or changed was the Music.
The way they decided to implement it and how it flow just break too fast and you end up playing for long stretch in silence, with the fight music triggering way too late or just never which is kinda sad when the game got a great soundtrack.
The game was amazing
I agree with you. Inquisition was great. Definitely a lot better than Dragon Age 2 which I didn’t like at all. Still think Origins is the best one!!
I think it's worth mentioning that almost every Battlefield game also comes out buggy as hell, even though Dice makes those and they invented Frostbite. BFV was the only one to NOT have a buggy launch (instead, it launched with 40% of a full game's content, lmao)
The Deep Roads and Tresspasser DLCs were really good though. If the entire game had been like those 2 DLC, Inquisition would've been a lot better game.
BFV was and is buggy af. Not as bad as BF4 at Release in the sense that it doesn't constantly crash and freeze but definitely worse than BF1 at launch, which was, for a battlefield game, pretty polished.
@@MKR3238 That is just straight up not true. There were fireproof horses getting stuck in windows and shit in BF1, tanks and planes spinning in place and exploding or even better, fall through the ground, elite class kits randomly exploded, bayonet charge animations demolishing houses, or getting stuck forever, bullets stopping and getting stuck mid-air etc.. #onlyinbattlefield
I don't like BFV either, but it was never as buggy or glitchy as any other BF game at launch.
@@MKR3238 Oh god please don't bring that up, it took them what 2 years to fix the game? God I preordered the gold edition and could barely play it due to bugs.
@@1InVader1 Elite Class kits randomly exploded? I didn't play much Bf1, it just stopped being fun to me and I gave up hope because I was bored in Battlefield Hardline as well.
DAI was the first Dragon Age game I played, and I'm glad I did. Even though I could see a lot of the problems that people had with it, the narrative and connection to some of the characters is primarily what kept me going. Since then, I've played it several times over and still find little quests/things that I hadn't noticed in the playthroughs before.
Same here. I love exploring in games, and there were so many little touches and details that I couldn't wait to see more of the story, find out more about the characters, fill out more of the map... I definitely could tell when the game was just wasting my time, though. The game was happy to pile intersting loot onto your lap, but stuff like the war room missions were too basic. Still, I love this game to pieces. I beat it twice.
I actually wish I had played Origins first, and played it back when it first released. People all dump on Inquisition and hold up Origins as some kind of religious rapture. that game was too old, too clunky, and too ugly for me to get into. Especially after beautiful, streamlined Inquisition.
It's good if you take it by what it is: an action/adventure game. As so, it's a fun game. Not groundbreaking, didn't set the bars for nothing, but fun. However, for those that played Origins and were expecting a RPG game, Inquisition was just a bland and empty game.
When Dragon Age tried to jump into the open world bandwagon kickstarted by Skyrim in 2011 with a single-player mmo design that ended up overshadowed by the Witcher 3 six month after release.
I would much rather have Origins style "closed world" experience with a lot of closed off zones that are well designed gameplay and story pacing wise, than an empty open world full of MMO style mandatory grind quests like Inquisition had.
I still prefer inquisition over Witcher 3
Because The Witcher provoked an endless circlejerk.
@@dreadwolfcult praising a good game is called a circlejerk now?
@@dreadwolfcult so we are not allowed to talk about other rpgs when talking about rpgs. ok then.
14:35
Morrigan's unexplainably and weirdly flattened chest sums up the whole feeling about DAI
😂 What was up with that?!
Games these days have skewed you to think they are all balloons I guess. In real life they are not all DD’s and battle panties
@@kallofkthuluz5922 it's fantasy tardass
@@sdsdfdu4437 Must....feed...porn...addiction...
This channel is seriously top tier in it's content. Thank you for everything you create. Long live GVMERS.
Enjoyed Inquisition but there was one quest to open a tomb ( i think it was or a ruins) took most of the game finding items in areas ....and my god it was anticlimatic the quest ending and rewards were just lousy (and actually reminded me a lot of the tomb quest in Anthem)
lmao I played that game so many years ago and the few things I remember from it was that quest, ended up using cheat engine to open the tomb, I immediately stopped playing after I finished that quest, fuck that
Oh my god. *That* area. I almost forgot it existed, because when I realized how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be, I didn't even bother with it anymore. Whatever treasure waited in there wasn't worth the trouble.
oh I remember that quest!
Mostly because it was bugged, if you did something too early on you wouldn't be able to get whatever was needed to open it.
If i'm not mistaken it was an elven cemetary that leaded to the tomb and there was no other way (unless using cheat engine) to go there but desecrate the tombs and loot a key to open the door.
Just imagine how immersive that was to do this while playing a dalish elf the 1st time -_-
@@ZrodyApo I think it's another quest. A sidequest. You didn't have to open it though, you didn't have to desecrate the tombs. When I did and some guy was like "yo what the fuck were you doing with our ancestors' tomb" I felt like an idiot and kind of a dick, pretty clever from the writers. Just because it's written on your quest UI doesn't mean you shouldn't question what you're doing.
DA Origins will always be my top game in the Dragon Age series. I enjoyed the immersive world and most of the characters. I enjoyed actual strategics needed to win boss fight and how your characters background and choices affected the story.
DA Inquisition was a decent follow up but, I never felt any real excitement as the Inquisitor aside the occasional party banter. I remember Bioware making statements about what would be featured in the game like customizing Strongholds for example but, sadly these were not implemented. Choices felt pretty "left or right" and i felt like they could have expanded on the choice factor more. EA/Bioware also did a big disservice to the players with older consoles (PS3/Xbox 360) by only making the DLC exclusive to newer consoles at the time.
the main reason is because you played origin first, i played inquisition then Origin and gotta say I feel the opposite of what you just felt.
Skyhold customization was in there. It mostly boiled down to choosing how to decorate the great hall, plus a few other tweaks that don't make any real difference, but it is there.
Still feel as does the fanbase that *DA origins* had the better charm, gameplay, dialogue and so on.
Inquisition was okay but alot of dialgoue was flat, the areas were may too open and empty, the classes dulled down it was just a mix of bad things with good visuals and even then sometimes my character would clip into the ground sometimes.
Disagree on that one. Plot wise, Origins was more solid, but character and dialogue wise, Inquisition was more memorable and characters were better written.
@@mrrd4444 I think we all agree plot wise, origins beats out Inquisition. But I think characters and dialogue were more interesting in origins. I think a lot of heart and soul went into the story, characters, and plot of DAO, graphics and gameplay at the time were not a huge issue. But with newer games, there seems to be a shift towards improving those two, and somehow that effort is taken away from the characters. Inquisition is by no means a bad game, but it didn't give me that same allure as origins.
@@mrrd4444 there was nothing memorable with inquisition dialogue, everyone sounds like a dense idiot, or just flat out dull, not to mention past character making an appearance doesnt sound like them at all as in the attitude and mannerism doesnt reflect to the first dragon age, origins team banter was more down to earth and solid, they provide more substance in the story line.
@@mrrd4444 DAI as my first DA game made me hate most of the characters. DAO had decent characters overall, but DA2 and DAI just felt so hollow compared to the previous Bioware casts.
@@PatrickOMulligan hehe yeah I really disliked most of the characters in DO:I as well. My main issue with the game was the open empty spaces (does every game have to be some open world game?) and early 2000s era mmo fetch quests.
I’ve never felt the urge to keep playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. The maps are too big and not enough interesting content to keep me going. I’ve made it all the way to the castle part for the inquisition but the amount of quest grinding to keep on the main questline path was too much for me.
I never had this problem with Origins, which I’ve played through multiple times. Hell, I’ve even beat Dragon Age 2 once thinking the game would get better only to find out it’s just kirkwall and the surrounding land
Exactly
I beat it about a month ago. 100% Completion, and let me say that I don't have any desire to go back a replay it. Even to explore alternate dialogue.
I am HEAVILY invested in the narrative, so I'm still excited to play Dragon Age 4. But if it ends up playing anything like Inquisition, it will definitely be a one-and-done playthrough for me.
Same here. It's because Inquisition is an action game pretending to be a RPG. So you expect more than bashing random critters, but it never really shows.
It's mostly busy work
DA inquisition was a good game. The dialogue between the characters was great. Ironbull and Solas playing chess by talking was really well done. .
*Hears 'Frostbite engine' 2 minuets in
Well......that explains a lot
Still one of my favorite games ever. I started replaying after seeing the videos about the first 2 games, and while it's not a perfect game, the story more than makes up for its deficiencies.
Fun action game, bad RPG game.
What kept me playing were the characters and the funny cutscenes with them, because once I got bored exploring the empty maps and abandoned the game for months before returning and finally completing the game ... Now I'm going to play in Nightmare mode
nutella
My biggest complaint with DAI... too clean. Origins and 2 were so gritty and felt dangerous, while inquisition was pretty and yippee. Not even dragons seemed threatening in that game.
2 sucked.
So, first that’s your opinion, secondly at least it didn’t look like fairy world. Obviously it was inferior to one and is in my own opinion worse than inquisition, but it didn’t suck, it was a solid game, with solid characters, solid story and below average combat. It only “sucked” in comparison to the other titles in the series.
@@futureparagon3746 The only good character was Varric everyone else sucked.
Again, your opinion, in mine the characters were fine, with the only great one being Varric. They weren’t bad, just fine.
@@futureparagon3746 Dragons were definitely threatening. It's just that they all were designed to be challenged at specific levels, and the open-world style of Inquisition allowed the player to over level enemies and make combat encounters a joke.
The only exceptions that were still difficult no matter what level you were was the Boss fight right before the transition to Skyhold, mainly because the player was hard capped at level 13 due to there not being enough resources to level any higher than that, and the level 23 High Dragon. But even the level 23 Dragon is easy when you approach it with the right strategy.
But yeah, the Dragons are difficult when faced at the right level or with the appropriate trial activated that keeps all enemies at your level. It's just that people tend to over prepare for bosses like them and end up making it super easy.
Great video as always. Thank you GVMERS for all the work you guys put into your documentary series.
EA has ruined so many great studios, I pray that one day we get o watch them fall, and smaller 3rd part devs will become more prominent again
It'll be cool to come back in a few years and see if you guys do a History of Dragon Age 4 :)
I love Inquisition, I've played it many times, recently started a replay of my canon playthrough. It's not without flaws but what game is? Now, technical issues aside, gamer nostalgia plays a huge role in how BioWare games are perceived as well and I rarely see it mentioned, so many people refuse to move past Origins and yes it's a fine game but it's not and should not be held up like it's The One. Game development moves on, whether we like it or not devs will try different things and mistakes will be made. I trust by now all people involved know very well what a nightmare Frostbite is and they'll do what they must for the next game to work, we'll see.
But it's undeniable some people have made a celebrated sport out of hating anything remotely EA-related so they'll hit BioWare regardless of how they perform, I think they have suffered equally if not more because of that hatred than the actual technical flaws (what was done to Andromeda in regards to the initial animations was plain bullying) . It's mentioned throughout this video and the DA2 one what a negative effect fans' "criticism" has on the team and how that more often than not impacts badly on the final product. There's constructive criticism and feedback, and there's throwing death threats at animators because you don't like how a character's facial animations look like on an E3 trailer, not quite the same thing. Meanwhile, most comments here are about how Origins is the best DA game, and little else. It'd be an improvement for all if players examined their own reactions with the same scrutiny and vitriol they do game devs.
(As for the whole TW3 thing, it got extremely tiring very quickly, if you were on the BioWare forums at that time you know how bad it was, fans don't usually ruin things for me but TW3 fans did, badly)
Agree about everything.
TW3 fanboys were just awful in general. Crybabies who couldn’t handle legitimate criticism of the game (I’ve experienced all kinds of bugs, some game breaking, through three playthroughs of it but their best rebuttal was always “well it never happened to me so it’s a 10/10 and you’re wrong”) dishing out every praise for it and threw all sorts of crap at other games in the same genre.
I’m a bigger DA fan and acknowledged that TW3 is the better game between it and Inquisition but I’d rather replay Inquisition than go through all the motions with TW3 again (it has more variety in side quests sure but fetch quests are still fetch quests) just because of how its fanboys are pretty much some of the worst gatekeepers that remind one of the early Dark Souls community lmao.
Wasn't Inquisition supposed to MMO? It had ridiculous empty map sizes with little to none things on it.
It had some mmo elements in it which was baffling as it made parts of the game a chore to play.
Still better than the fade in origins
@@IBESMusic94 fade in origins was amazing
@@Shorkshire It was not. THere is a reason why "Skip the fade" mod exists
@@darthportus it was a cool area until you realized you had to go through like 4 different areas.
It just lasted a bit too long. If it was one area where you grabbed companions on the way through it would have been solid.
@@getthegoons Not to mention the music in the fade sucked and made a dull experience even worse!
In spite of its many problems, I loved Inquisition. Something about it just struck me at the right time and the right state of mind i was in. I'm not sure I'll ever go back and replay it, but I'll alway have very fond memories of my time with it
Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of my favourite games EVER. I feel anxious about DA4, but I hope BioWare will get its shit together.
Andraste blessed me Andraste blessed me
Well it's unlikely... BioWare have been crumbling for a while now.
Unfortunately, because of Anthem. We won't be seeing another Mass Effect or Dragon Age game for quite some time.
@@dominicwilson1498 I think because of anthem we will. BioWare is working on a live service dragon age game in a similar style to anthem. This is supposed to replace anthem as it's been quite the train wreck and dragon age is the only profitable IP they haven't ruined yet.
The problem is it'll most likely be quite bad. Same engine and same team so... same issues.
Just imagine what would've been if EA hadn't pushed for an early release in both DA2 and Inquisition AND the Frostbite engine hadn't been such a headache from the beginning plus had all the tools necessary to build a decent RPG, yeah....truly sad.
Bioware is as much to blame as EA here, Inquisition was even further away from Origins than 2 was, you read interviews and they just have no damn clue, origins was their best game but they keep distancing themselves from it.
Origins doesn't attract the casual gamer. It hasn't "ages well" so they distance themselves from it. Its hard coming up with something in the middle...something old and new fans find enjoyable. Origins will always be my favorite though
@@HighKicks2yaTeef And yet an Origin-esque game like Divinity Original sin became both commercial and critical success, saving Larian Studios from brink of collapse and sending them to forefront of rpg gaming industry. It's ironic that Larian has now the right for Baldur's Gate while Bioware seems destined to be shot down by the EA.
It's simple. The console market, they dumbed everything down so that they could sell more copies there. I heard that Origins didn't sell well earlier so they made everything console centered including the story.
@@gargantuangargoyle6535 I'll have to check that game out
@@HighKicks2yaTeef and that's the main problem, the casual gamer might buy one or two of your games, serious gamers would buy all your games, it's a Scooby doo mystery.
The gameplau shots really capitalize on how goofy the elven archer's stance is.
I work from home and I just absolutely love having these videos on in the background while I code away..Thanks GVMERS!
You didn't even mention how they completely removed healing from the game and replaced it with odd mechanics...
Probably because it wasn't a wide complaint, but damn did I hate that part of inquisition.
Eh well eventually you just figure out that maintaining barrier is basically the name of game
This game introduced me into the DA series and gaming in general, so it holds a special place in my heart. 💕
Again, I love this series, and loved Dragon Age Inquisition. I still haven't played the DLC for it, but definitely will before the next installment comes out. The side-questing was tedious as hell at times, but it was still my goty pick that year. Fantastic job on this video as usual!
I liked all of the DLC but Trespasser is fantastic. It gives the story a proper ending that I think the game itself lacked. Definitely pick it up when you get the chance.
@@plastichouseplant I wasn't aware of the end-cap angle to it, so I'm definitely going to have to jump back in sooner than later!
Yeah Trespasser alone makes the game better. All the DLC is good and Hakkon is a good proof of concept of what an ideal version of those open world zones from the main game would have been. But Trespasser is like a brilliant mini expansion that makes the whole game feel better just by capping it with it.
Agree with describing the backlash against DA2 and ME3 as toxic. If the community had just provided feedback and criticism to Bioware, that would've been fine. But no one should suffer death-threats and targeted online harassment for making a somewhat contentious game.
I don’t know what it is about Inquisition, but I love it. This pandemic has reminded me of the tremendous replay value the game has.
You make great points. But I will say, the romance and relationship options in this game were AMAZING. They felt real and interactive- even beyond the witcher (since you are playing yourself and not an established character). Also, the part when everyone starts singing The Dawn will come was EPIC and emotional. I hope so much the next game prioritizes intimate, individual, narrative moments. I'm afraid it won't.
Another informative video. I've been trying to get friends interested in the behind-the-scenes of BioWare to read Blood, Sweat and Pixels, but this nicely highlights some key info. Thanks for another great vid!
Yay! One of the very few channels that I have the notification bell turned on.
As an Origins fan I thought Inquisition was a great next instalment. Overall it was really good I think.
This makes me wanna go back and try dragon age inquisition again. I wasn't quite able to get into it when I bought it.
Thank you for the amazing series of DA documentaries! :)
Great documentary. Dragon Age Inquisition was personally my favorite of the series. I enjoyed the new open world approach, though i do wish it had more life to it.
His name was Marauder Shields
This was my introduction to the Dragon Age games!
Same here :) and I'm glad. Played 1 & 2 since then.
- Dragon Age: Origins ("A true Old School RPG") -
- Dragon Age II ("That one forgettable rushed mess, except & only for Varric") -
- Dragon Age: Inquisition ("Not bad at all, except for everything related to the Frostbite 3 ENGINE of course") -
12:52 finding granny's pan really is the benchmark for side quests hahaha
This video perfectly explained everything I felt playing the game. While it was a sale success and a huge improvement over DA2, I can't shake the feeling that the game definitely doesn't have the "oomph" that the original DA had, but it is not all because of the engine.
The story of the game is really good, very well written and hooks you in. The level design is also fantastic, and the graphics (specially on the PC) are equally impressive, yet the most important aspect feels shallow and clunky: The gameplay.
When you play it you can clearly see that the engine wasn't made for an RPG, the combat and even general movement feels clunky and completely robotic. When I played it back then, I was really let down by how weak every character seemed to be, regardless of their class or focus, every enemy seemed like it took two to three times the amount of damage that they should really take to die. If you pile all members of your party on one enemy it feels about right but individual characters feel extremely weak, taking 20-30 swings of a sword or arrows to die.
To me it seems like they wanted to streamline the feeling of the game, where in DAO you had mages capable of summoning firestorms and miasmas that incapacitaded huge areas, everything in Inquisition seems more bland, a mage is just as weak as a tank warrior in the amount of damage it deals. And don't even get me started on the action bar that went from having 40 slots to having only 8 this time around (thanks again consoles).
Granted most of the stuff I mentioned lean more towards design choices rather than technical ones, but still the gameplay and the overall emptyness of the open world really broke the game for me.
I hope with all my heart that they are able to see those problems and work on them for the next game. Even if the negative criticism made them insecure, AAA RPGs need to be grand and take risks to stand out, otherwise you'll end up with something bland like Inquisition was, a true "Ehh, I guess the game was okay".
I found the level design pretty generic, actually one of the things that made me step out of the game for the two times I tried to play it.
good summary of the game
DAI was the first Dragon Age game I played and the first mediocre Bioware I played as well. Played DAO next and thought it was the best rpg ever made. Sigh.
I agree on DAO
Excellent video! Now Rise and Fall of Telltale Games!
We should always remember the sacrifice of Marauder Shields, he tried so valiantly to save us from a dreadful ending.
Man, if you guys uploaded more regularly I'd never get anything done 😅 Another cracking vid! 👏👏👏
Oh waw, what the hell?! GOD DAMN COINCIDENCE. I started playing this game last week after gathering dust on my library since 2017 and finally decided to give it a proper shot, AND I HAVE BEEN PLAYING IT NONSTOP EVERYDAY COMPLETELY ADDICTED, and now you upload this video. Incredible.
15:20 "it still a tremendous improvement over 2" that's easy when 80% of DA 2 is copy paste, with all areas looking the same, and DA2 removeing gameplay from the first one. if they just make unique areas + add back the things they removed from the first one the game would be a tremendous improvement over 2 and it would be no improvement over origins.
Dragon Age Origins was a masterpiece.
Dragon Age 2 was a disappointment but still a good game with a great plot but very lacking because of “cough cough” EA. Dragon Age Inquisition however is really pretty but extremely hollow and exhausting. I kinda hate it personally, but only because I know that Bioware could have made it so much better than what it was. In my opinion.
PS: The Witcher 3 kinda outshined all games of 2016 and 17... and 18 and pretty much still. 😂😂😂
EA=the example of everything wrong in the gaming industry
CD Projekt Red=the example if everything right in the gaming industry
Bioware=talented studio capable of making legendary games but are hampered with poor management decisions and ridiculous time frames
Bioware = What would happen if CD Projekt Red was bought by EA.
CD Projekt Red = Bioware before being bought by EA.
EA = Proof that Monopolies can legitimately kill industries.
CD is not perfect.
I would agree with this if it's considering past bioware. Past bioware made amazing games. But not only has EA bought them BUT all the amazing talent that made those games have long since left. So it's not completely EAs fault that Bioware is now shit. You gotta blame the talentless hacks that work there now too.
@@zoeymorrigan6521 - Bioware made great games when they wasn't owned by anyone. They could do whatever they wanted. Once EA bought them all of a sudden they had to follow orders and do what they were told. Go look at their rpg's before EA bought them and after.
@@kummakummakummakummakummac8606 yeah until anthem when ea bought bioware they were only really making da and me sequels. compare to before they were bought we had baldurs gate, neverwinter nights, kotor , and jade empire.
bioware in general are broken up into 3 eras. the dnd era [ bg, nwn, kotor] the original ip era, [jade empire, mass effect trilogy, dao and 2] and we are now currently in the frostbite era [ dai onwards].
Oh heck yea! I just started to replay this game the other day. I love it. I wish this narrator was in the game somehow. His voice would've been awesome in this game.
New video! Great way to start the day, thank you for all the hard work!
5:38 I don't like that the word "toxic" is used to describe honest, heartfelt critique in today's gaming industry.
Question: what is your opinion about Gamergate?
@@pointman426 Don't know enough about it to have an opinion.
@@pointman426 Are you STILL talking about Gamergate? Didn't that thing die YEARS ago?
Vitriol is not critique and to pretend it is does nobody any favours.
@@danceanddestroy No reasonable person would disagree with that. The problem is that fair, negative opinions are lumped in together with the vitriol and it's all labeled as "toxic". Cool name, by the way.
Couldn't even finish Inquisition, where I was able to finish Origins and found every single sidequest to finish because it was THAT GOOD.
Even though Inquisition is my favorite of the series (since it tried to fix some of the issues I've had with the first two games), I do agree that the open-world aspect along with trying a new engine was an unwise decision for Bioware. And it does suck that they do seem weirdly fixated on that engine despite knowing the shit the crew had to endure through those years. I do hope that they get their act together, even though the Video Game industry is a hellscape that no wonder people put focus on indie games now.
Why the fuck did they think it was a good idea to use frostbite then??
the history of SPLIT SECOND? anyone?
Yes!! That game was amazing its a tragedy the game never got a sequel because of disneys bullshit
It's one of the few racing games I enjoyed. Wish there were more Michael Bay directed racing games
I just want to play this game again now!
'Exhausting' is exactly the word I'd use for Inquisition.
When these studios suffer from stupid decisions coming down from the top, I struggle to grasp how you see developers laid off and studios closed.
How do these braindead, narcissistic executives that make 6 figures or more KEEP their jobs? They have been forcing that damn Frostbite engine on teams that have no reason to use it, and they still get their high salaries, corporate kickbacks and bonuses every year. Clowns at the top make more than a handful of hard working developers and they're getting paid to mismanage projects and stick their nose into things they have zero clue about.
They should all go work at a bank. All they understand is money - they got no right operating in the games industry.
Is the recurring female elf character e.g. at 15:13 a game character or your guys own avatar out of the character creator?
thats the player character
I'm always impressed with the quality of these videos and the insights you present about development of these projects.
How long does it take to find, say, the footage from studio tours?
Great job as always, guys!
I couldn't play DA:I in earnest. I started multiple playthroughs, with various different characters, but I just couldn't. I think the longest one I managed was 6 hours with a Qunari.
There was just something missing from the game for me. To this day, I haven't been able to get into it.
Exactly my experience. "Stellar" experience, ha.
Me too. It's the characters that failed this game as far as I'm concerned. They're more bland than oatmeal.
Same. DA1 and even DA2 for all its faults, had really good party members, a sense of humor and excellent banter. It felt like in DA3 the charm was missing. It felt like a single player MMO. It felt like the good campaign, if it even existed, was buried under a mountain of busywork.
@@n00bfishie Most of the DA2 party sucked besides Varric.
The first time I played DAI, I quit mid-Hinterlands out of sheer boredom. I went back about a year later and this time skipped most of the side quests and just stuck to the main quest and companion quests. Played this was, DAI is easily on par with TW3 and quite awesome.
I loved Inquisition. DA 2 was the game that I liked the least of the 3 but all of them were worthy of spending many hours in.
Man, I feel so sorry for the devs feeling all that pressure from the dickhead "fans" that got so riled up about DAII. Sure, it's not perfect but I still really enjoy it. Absolutely loved DA:I and can't wait for the next game. I always thought Frostbite was forced on them, not that they chose to use it. Wonder why they didn't switch after finding out how hard it would be to use?
Very interesting narrative - great writing guys!
OMG Thank you so much for this! I've seen all your Dragon Age Histories. Commenting while watching, haha! You guys rock!
Ive watched all the 3 parts and its awesome. The History of Witcher 1 for your next video please!
Mass Effect surely has to be on the list of documentaries.
Dragon Age Inquisition is one of my all time favorite games, so much fun 👏👏👏
I still really like DA:I :3 It's the one I've spent the most time playing and always like to return to on occassion. It's not perfect by any means and I can totally understand the criticism, but I still love it
It's sad that DAI has to forever live behind the shadow of one of the greatest games of all time. Let's face it, any RPG game of this era will come up short when you compare it to TW3 (2015) or RDR2 (2018).
just wanna clarify one wrong statement in the video:
using an external engine like unity or unreal in no way has an increased risk of leaking anything, in the same way as using simplygon or bink video doesn't have any increased risk of leaking anything.
the only way of anything leaking is
A: someone hacks your internal servers
B: someone from the inside transfers data offside
on both of these factors, what engine you use has absolutely no impact.
Using an external engine in order to save paying of royalties seem to have been absent in Shill-hreier's book...
quite predictably, I should add.
Great stuff as always
If anything, Inquisition made me realize how much I really liked Dragon Age 2, and its concentrated narrative over "big open expansive world".
Should mention the fact that there are 2 books you have have to read in order to fully understand the story and some characters which was never advertised so youd only find out if you bothered to look it up
Could just as easily say the same about Origins, with The Stolen Throne and The Calling 💁🏻♀️
Is there any update on how EA is treating Frostbite and other engines within it's studios? I keep looking it up but not finding anything.
could you now do a History of Mass effect 1, 2, 3, and Andromeda please
I just love your videos, well researched and matter of fact.
All of the 'Killer Bees' are falling: Bioware, Bethesda, and Bungie. This is a sad era.
However, CD Project Red is rising, so there is always hope. Single player games are alive and well.
i feel when we got into the 8th gen of consoles so end of 2014 something happend and AAA gamieng went to shit.
When I first played Inquisition I didnt really like it but now I can easily say its my favorite out of all Dragon Age games
the console version because for some reason the PC version feels slower on leveling etc.
This channel should have more subs tbh. Quality videos in youtube.
I don't get how people complained about DA2 being over simplified but not DAI. At least DA2 still had resistances and attribute points.
Only 16 minutes oh :( Thank you GVMERS! :)
I've started playing dai again after completing it all those years ago. I was one of the ones to drop it pretty quick when witcher 3 came out. (Feel pretty bad now 🙄) I've just bought all the dlc and started a female mage aswell as reading a lot more through the codex entries.
I'm having a blast and can't seem to put it down, regardless of it's shortcomings and filler.
Still a solid game!
I'm a simple man, GVMERS upload a video, I press like
I like everything about Inquisition except for the main story, the characters are all interesting and have great interactions and the maps are absolutely beautiful although the Hinterlands might've been a bit too large. I love that The Hissing Wastes actually feel like a barren wasteland, that I kinda get a little uncomfortable in the Fallow Mire and how amazed I was about how beautiful maps like the Emerald Graves, Forbidden Oasis, Val Royeaux (although small), Frostback Basin and the Deep Roads were.
Although there are probably many RPG games that have objectively better mechanics and stories, this game still holds a special place in my heart after ~800 hours of playing time