Dragon Age 3

[Gogan]

Apparently EA opened up their offices in LA to let some media play DA3, so lots of new gameplay videos have come out over the last week:

https://www.youtube.com/results?filters=week&search_query=dragon+age+inquisition+gameplay&lclk=week

Only watched a couple so far, but it's looking good. Already scheduled time off for that week (well, Weds-Fri) and the first week of Dec for SWTOR. BioWare is saying ~150 hours of gameplay for DA3, so I'm hoping I can finish a mostly thorough play-through before the SWTOR early-access release in Dec.

[McGrupp]

Very cool. Been itching for a deep RPG experience. Hope it delivers

[Gogan]

Just looked at the recommended system requirements for DA3:

Quad core @ 3.0 GHz (Six core @3.2 for AMD)
8 GB mem
GeForce GTX 660 w/ 2GB mem
26GB disk space

I'm currently running quad-core 2.6 GHz CPU (i7 920), 12 GB mem, GTX 580 w/ 1.5GB mem. Granted, I built this machine almost 5 years ago now, but damn. Considering I want to play DA3 on ultra graphics settings I guess I'll need to do some upgrading in the next few weeks.

I was surprised to see the quad-core CPU requirement. Didn't think most games were very multi-core friendly these days.

Anyone have any thoughts on 6-core vs 4-core for gaming? Looks like clock speeds go up to 4 GHZ on the quad cores (~$350 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369)), and 3.5 GHz for the hex cores (~$600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117403), $400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117402) for 3.3 GHz).

[Yooxra]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dragon-age-inquisition-goes-gold/1100-6423340/

[McGrupp]

Seems to primarily be an issue of "Future-proofing". If you can afford the 6-core, go for it. Probably saves you money in the end.

[Gogan]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dragon-age-inquisition-goes-gold/1100-6423340/

I'm beyond excited. I took off the 18th-21st from work so I have almost a solid week of playing DA3 non-stop.

[Fusa]

I will be putting my PoE ethics into this, play hard while I can.


and Asano I built mine about 1.5 years ago I have a 3.3GHz Six core.

[Yooxra]

Dragon Age Multiplayer
http://www.twitch.tv/bioware/c/5445932

[Gogan]

I'm currently running ... I guess I'll need to do some upgrading in the next few weeks.

Well, just booked a trip to Vegas with a friend for early Dec, so I guess I'll be putting off those upgrades. Gotta put those LV girls through school!

Dragon Age Multiplayer
http://www.twitch.tv/bioware/c/5445932

Oh man! Watching now.

[Rhun]

Well, just booked a trip to Vegas with a friend for early Dec, so I guess I'll be putting off those upgrades. Gotta put those LV girls through school!


nice

[Yooxra]

Dragon age getting good reviews.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/11/11/metareview-dragon-age-inquisition/

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/11/11/dragon-age-inquisition-review-tipping-the-scales/

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/dragon_age_inquisition/b/xboxone/archive/2014/11/11/dragon-age-inquisition-review-game-informer.aspx

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/11/dragon-age-inquisition-review

[Gogan]

GamesBeat only gave it 87/100, which I found surprisingly low. They laid out their reasons pretty well though:

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/11/dragon-age-inquisition-review/view-all/

Basically comes down to:

* Combat grows stale after a short while. Not much depth to the monsters or strategies.
* Graphical bugs abound.
* Crafting materials are so rare and expensive, it's not worth bothering with considering you'll get upgrades from questing more easily/often.
* Several reviews have mentioned disappointment with the storyline -- too vague, not very engaging, your choices don't matter much, etc.

Those sound like pretty damning 'cons', but the 'pros' must make up for it considering the scores. Can't wait.

[Yooxra]

Pre-ordered.

[Gogan]

Ditto. You'll be able to pre-install the game tomorrow. And the game will be playable starting Monday 9pm PST .

[Gogan]

Pre-loaded and ready for Monday night!

[McGrupp]

Haven't been able to pull the trigger on pre-ordering the deluxe edition. Would like to hear from you guys first hand if you don't mind!

[Fusa]

I pre-loaded the digital deluxe (xtra 10$ after 60$ is laughable) so I went for the mounts!

[Gogan]

I pre-loaded the digital deluxe (xtra 10$ after 60$ is laughable) so I went for the mounts!

Yeah, I lol'd at the price too. I still bought it of course, but damn. Game prices be crazy.

[Fusa]

I am probably going to start out as a Human Warrior.

1 extra skill point opop

[Gogan]

Humans seem like the obvious choice for Rogues and Mages. I think there's an argument to be made for Dwarves and Qunari as Warriors though. Since there's no healing in the game outside of potions, their damage resistance could be really valuable.

I'm not sure what I'm going to make. I played rogue-like characters in DA1 (daggers) and DA2 (bow), and rogues in DA3 looks even better. But I'm kinda leaning towards a Human Mage this time around. No idea what specialization I'll pick.

[Gogan]

4 hours to go!

BioWare's "Wonderful World" Launch Trailer:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dragon-age-inquisition-s-wonderful-world-lau/1100-6423650/

[Gogan]

About an hour and half in, and I just finished the intro. I had to explore every nook and cranny. This is gonna be a long game.

Combat is a little tough to control. DA2 was easier to pickup. Wish the tactical view had better camera controls (i.e. zoom farther out). Also wish there were tooltip descriptions when hovering over hotbar abilities. I can already tell there's going to be an obscene amount of NPCs. Going to be harder than Game of Thrones to keep track of all the little plots.

Graphics are incredible though. Really really stunning. You know they're good when the cutscenes use the same in-game graphics and flow seamlessly from gameplay.

Running on mostly high settings, 1920x1200 and it runs pretty well. A little bit jittery in places. Overall better than I expected, but I'll probably upgrade anyway. On max settings it probably looks unbelievable.

[Fusa]

it started at 9pm PST =( so I just slept now I work I will pick it up when I get home from work

[McGrupp]

What's the latest gentlemen?!

[Gogan]

I've only played about 3 hours since I'm still playing WoD, but so far it feels a lot more like Skyrim than DA1 or DA2. Seems like a huge open world, and very non-linear.

I have trouble getting straight to an objective because I'm constantly running around spamming the 'V' key, which is a "find loot" ability which emits a "ping" sound when an herb, mining node, or other loot is nearby. It's neat at first, and then your OCD kicks in and you can't travel 10 feet without feeling like you need to hit 'V' out of fear of missing something.

The few battles I've done are fun though. I hope they somehow keep the storyline going despite the non-linearity of the world.

Cassandra, who was the chick interrogating in DA2's main narrative is a playable NPC this time around and is pretty cool. So is Varric, of course, and his chest hair has never looked so magnificent.

[Fusa]

I have probably played about 10-15 hours, I am currently level 8~ and like asano said, the "V" key gets spamed a lot, there are a lot of things in each zones that get you sidetracked.

I have not cleared/found everything in a single zone yet and I have 3 (zones) open.

Multiplayer is not MMO

it is more like a Starcraft/Worldofwarcraft breed, many people are online which you don't see

you "create a game" 3 other people join you, and you create a random instance/dungeon for the group to go in, you finish it or die and get rewards/gold

Spend gold on chests which you can open and have more loots in them.

Single player is independent from multiplayer and you must unlock characters in multiplayer via loot drops (if you want to unlock a hunter you need to find a specific bow)

Every multiplayer character has independent experience.

I have to go to work thats about all I can think of outside what asano said.

[Fusa]

I have not played the other Dragonage games so I dont fully understand the back story nor do I understand why Varric's chesthair is fucking beastly, but I do still get a sense of what is going on in this game.


( I suppose you dont need to know the characters as much to understand the story )

With that said it is not linear at all and to be honest right now I have no fucking clue if what I am doing benefits the main plot or even gives me anything good, I am more doing it because it is "something" else to do and I generally want 100% done.

The main quest leads you to certain area's on the map but once you get close to the target area something pop's up and you have to be opportunistic ( pretty much if you are close to it you click it you don't want to run back and forth) but this leads to randomness.

Overall enjoying the game (not because there is nothing else new) but because of the look and the flow, they defiantly put a lot of work into the voice acting and I will probably play again (at the moment I am doing it with the mages) I will do it the second time through with the templars.



Also I just found the mounts and I am almost level 9 apparently you can get it at lvl 2-3 if you know where you are going, GOD I wish I knew, ohhh the more you know.

[Yooxra]

Spoiler:

Dragon Age Inquisition Iron Bull(Blake) Sex Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtXVc9NI8Y

[Gogan]

ROFL

"Actually, he's the one that's been taking it..."

Like I said earlier, I'm only a few hours in. But the first romance option I got was to romance another guy. Pretty funny. That scene was hysterical.

The romances in ME and DA were always shallow, imo. Glad to see they're significantly better in DA3.

[Yooxra]

ROFL

"Actually, he's the one that's been taking it..."


That made me laugh.

"I believe we may have blinded poor Cullen."

[Gogan]

PSA: If You're Playing Dragon Age, Leave The Hinterlands (http://kotaku.com/psa-if-youre-playing-dragon-age-leave-the-hinterlands-1661855879)

Pretty funny, because I would totally have fallen into the same trap. I played a bit more tonight and was about to say I have a love/hate relationship with this game. On the one hand, it's the most spectacular looking world I've seen in a game. There's so much to do in the Hinterlands, and the scenery is breathtaking. On the other hand, the world feels *so* big with no direction that it's a little overwhelming. Fortunately, simply exploring the world is hugely rewarding.

Fusa, since you've played a lot more than me so far, is DA3 like Skyrim in that mobs/rifts scale to your level? Or is it possible to run into mobs that will face smash you? I ask b/c I tried a rift in Hinterlands today and the second wave destroyed me pretty quick. I don't really have the hang of combat yet, so not sure if I just suck or it out-leveled me.

[Fusa]

Ok I must say one thing related to first paragraph, yes I was there much to long (mind you lvl 8-11) is the recommended level for the Breach Closing, so I had to level somewhere and I will complete every zone so I stayed there (fun or not).

onto the question at hand, which I truly can not answer because I never played Skyrim. I do understand what you are asking me though. I have been to a level 16 zone ( just to get a rare plant for a quest ) and things absolutely shit on you. like 1 shot. When I was young (level 2-4) there are area's in "The Hinterlands" that is 8-12 mobs, when I went close to this rift the larger mob one shot me not to mention spell casters rape. So no, things do not scale down or up to your level just because you are close to the zone, you have to be mindful and then tell yourself I shouldn't be here.

Lastly about the combat, this game forces you to "pause" to often if you want to be (perfect) which means a combat fight would take probably 5 mins longer than it should (just to be clean). What I do is find a happy median, there are area's on the map (while in an instance) that refill your supplies (pots) so I do not fear using some of them. The AI of your team members are sometimes fucking stupid as in if a boss retreats or you are doing a rift, you must actively separate your members so they do not get AoE'd to death which is very easy fighting higher level mobs.

I do actively fight things that are 3 levels higher then me ( which proves a challenge if you fuck up you know what you fucked up and the second time through you find you don't even use pots with good position) but then I go to area's that are my level or a little lower, and I curb stomp them, no challenge.

I think the way I am doing the game on the first time through is seriously wrong, I will soon find a zone on the War Table that needs to be done (Ill be level 20 and the zone will be level 9)

edit** I currently have 20 hours played and still have not cleared the hinterlands =P I am level 10

[Fusa]

25 hours and finally 100% finished the hinterlands ( including the Dragon lvl 12 ) I gayed him forsure using the terrain and got like 9000 exp and 3 purples ( level 15 loot off a lvl 12 dragon)

I was lvl 11

[Gogan]

Wow, you've been playing a lot. Does the game tell you what % complete a particular zone is, or are you just confident you've done everything there?

The dragon fight I saw in some gameplay video looked pretty epic. Nice that you got one down. I like that they're rare encounters in the DA worlds. I also love how exciting it feels (at least so far) to get purple items. Like vanilla wow, it really does feel rare and epic. I've seen two so far -- a dagger and a staff.

I'm about 13 hours in and level 8 now. Tactical combat got better once I learned that holding shift lets you pan the camera by moving the mouse. I think I'm finally getting the hang of things. I've been focused on moving the story along, quest-wise. Went to Redcliffe and sided with the mages (since I'm a mage too). Definitely want to play through again and check out the templar story though.

P.S. I love Lelianna. Wish she was a playable character. She was a badass in the Redcliffe/Alexius story. She was a companion in DA:O, but I never played with her much since I was also a rogue in that game. Such a great character story though. Sera is pretty entertaining so far too. Guess I got a thing for badass chicks with bows.

[Yooxra]

http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/img6/HobbitTaurielEWflphotoFulldrawtsr1.jpg

[Fusa]

I am just going by the world map shows 1-etc* amount of quests in the zone, I did all the shards and the landmarks one thing I know forsure I didn't get was all the mosaic pieces and the locked doors that need defyhandsfinetools ( need to sped perks might be stuff behind there)

hinterlands shows nothing above it

[Fusa]

Also if I had to fight the dragon I would have got my ass kicked no problem, I basically explioted the terrain so I could kill the dragon and it couldn't touch me. mind you I choose fire and it is vulnerable** to cold ( Human Mage ) so I just finished the fire tree now I will go cold, my other mages are frost/lightning, basically 10 mins of staff auto fire

[Gogan]

I am just going by the world map shows 1-etc* amount of quests in the zone, I did all the shards and the landmarks one thing I know forsure I didn't get was all the mosaic pieces and the locked doors that need defyhandsfinetools ( need to sped perks might be stuff behind there)

Ah, I never noticed that on the world map. Will have to look for it.

There's a few of little collections like the mosaics. I picked up some bottles too, which is apparently like the mosaics quest. Neat, but I'm not gonna sweat finding them all. I do wonder what the rewards for finding them all is though.

That lockpicking perk is the one I'm going for as well. I hate coming across doors that I can't unlock.

mind you I choose fire and it is vulnerable** to cold ( Human Mage ) so I just finished the fire tree now I will go cold, my other mages are frost/lightning, basically 10 mins of staff auto fire

Yeah, I went fire too, but I'm thinking it was a bad idea. The elementals that come out of rifts seem to be fire immune as well. I want to check out how good Fire Mine is, but then I'll probably respec if it's not that good. The storm tree looks like it has some good CC, as well as the winter tree, but lack any big damage spells. TBH, I'm not super excited about any of the mage trees. I was sad Blood Magic isn't in DA3. It was pretty cool in DA2. The mage specializations look good, but no idea when I'll get those.

[Fusa]

Fire mine is worth it, and I am not sure when I got my specializations but I do have them now and they are neat as fuck ( almost want me to respec the respective guys to their trees)

I want to say they magically showed up at level 10 around the same time I finally closed the rift and got to the large keep.

The inquisitor one is fucking amazing.

also yes there are bottles I have came across, fucking OCD "V" key one thing I hate so much is on your mount you can't ping Search "V" does nothing and it is irritating for those pesky items, hence why I have the same attitude for those is if I don't find them all I wont sweat it

[Gogan]

24 hours. Level 12. Acquiring Skyhold was epic. Fought my first dragon in Crestwood (he was 13, I was 12) and got my ass kicked. Found the specializations -- apparently they're unlocked from a quest originating the war room.

Loving this game now. Not something I can pick up for even just an hour, but it's so amazing.

[Fusa]

yes the whole story line as of yet is amazing. The specialization are great=)

[Gogan]

35 hours. Level 14. Went with Knight Enchanter specialization, and it's pretty fun. Basically a melee mage. Plays very differently from how I've played up to this point.

I went back to Hinterlands to finish it off. Cleared everything except the dragon before I went Knight-Enchanter. Wiped at 25%. As a KE, I killed him pretty easily with Cassandra, Iron Bull, and Varric. It was a long, epic fight though. The dragon and boss fights in this game are insanely fun.

The KE is just a beast. I have a 110 dps staff (item level 16, req lvl 13) which I found at a vendor. It's so much better than even the higher level stuff I'm finding -- including the epic 96 dps staff (req lvl 15) that I got off the dragon. The staff I was using before was like 62 dps, so pretty big upgrade.

I continue to be blown away by how big this game is. The amount of voice acted dialog is ridiculous too. I think I had like a 30 min chat with Josephine the other night exploring all the different dialog options.

I'm starting to get into crafting now too. Really well done again. Been able to craft some pretty sick armor.

[McGrupp]

Well y'all just about have me sold. Is the deluxe edition worth the extra $$?

[Fusa]

I would say no grupp, thought I fully dont understand what the mounts are/do but I think some give more resistance to fall off ( or need to take more fall dmg before kicking you off)

really other that riding a unicorn I dont see anything worth the xtra 10$ if* you wanted to save it, you will still get all the stuff you need (mounts etc) and the things you get from the deluxe are definitely not game changing or retardly overpowered. you get some starter items that you upgrade at lvl 4

[Gogan]

It's definitely an amazing game, Grupp. I had extremely high expectations for it, and it's surpassing even those. Totally agree with Fusa though -- definitely not worth paying for the deluxe.

I highly recommend finishing DA1 and DA2 before playing DA3 though. It's not that you'd be lost without playing the previous games -- DA3 stands on its own just fine. There are tons of references to the previous games though, and the choices you've made in them have repercussions in DA3. You'll enjoy the hell out of those moments if you played through DA1 and 2. Alternatively, you can go through Dragon Age Keep (https://dragonagekeep.com) to select all the important decisions from the first two game that you can then import into DA3.

[McGrupp]

Very cool. I still have both my finished saves from 1 and 2. Thanks for the feedback gentlemen

[Yooxra]

Very cool. I still have both my finished saves from 1 and 2. Thanks for the feedback gentlemen

This should help you make up your mind Grupper.


Cyber monday dragon age for 45$ (http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=lp_8524689011_gb1h_tit_c-2_6282_5ecdfb27?rh=i%3Avideogames%2Cn%3A8524689011&ie=UTF8&node=8524689011&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DERascsubtag=[t|link[p|1646775845[au|5856732741879800112ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1665081128[au|472972639ascsubtag=[referrer|gizmodo.com[t|link[p|1646775845[au|5856732741879800112ascsubtag=[referrer|gizmodo.com[t|link[p|1646775845[au|5856732741879800112&tag=kotakuamzn-20&ascsubtag=[referrer|kotaku.com[t|link[p|1651933170[au|5856732741879800112)

[Gogan]

Are you playing, Yoox? Last I heard you pre-ordered it, but nothing once it was released.

[Yooxra]

Are you playing, Yoox? Last I heard you pre-ordered it, but nothing once it was released.

Nope. I did buy it. I should get the time to play it in about a week. Got busy with lots of stuff suddenly. Looking forward to playing it more and more as I see more good things said about it.

[McGrupp]

Thanks for the link Yoox, got it.

[Gogan]

Right on. It's definitely a game best played in larger blocks of time. Will be interested in hearing you thoughts once you get into it.

P.S. I ended up getting a GTX 980, and to be honest, it doesn't look much different on Ultra than it did on Medium/High. Glad I didn't go all the way and upgrade the mobo/proc/mem since it apparently would've been wasted. Also good to know (for everyone else) that you don't need a top-end rig for this game to look fantastic.

[Yooxra]

Thanks for the link Yoox, got it.

Np bro. Good deal for a game that new. Can't wait to play.

[Gogan]

Fusa, did you finish DA3?

I'm about 62 hours in, level 18, but haven't played in about a week. Finished everything on the war table that I had available. Still a few zones I haven't touched though. I think I have about 2-3 quests left in the main storyline. Might just finish the main story and circle back to the optional stuff later.

[Fusa]

Honestly I haven't had much time to sit down to play ( you need more then 2 hours otherwise you feel/and do nothing)

I am currently level 13 in the "FADE" (12-15 req) I am on the last boss ( he is proving to be a pain in the ass ) my best so far is 30% or so my problem is I picked a team with 2 melee so I basically do it with 2 mages and my tank =P

PoE 3 month leagues are soon arriving which will be less time =( so I still absolutly love the game and plan to finish it but you need to listen to the story unless you just want to fly through it.

I think I am still around 28-29~ hours in


Also - you can not reload from my understanding to before this zone I am in(no save files to load from that go back far enough), so I can't go outside and

A) pick a new team
B) Level more before going into the fade
C) do both A and B

[Gogan]

Ugh, that sucks. =/ They definitely throw you into that zone abruptly. I remember being worried about not being able to get through it and not having a recent save file to fall back on too. Fortunately I've always been at the high end of the level rec.

Good luck!

[Gogan]

Finished the main story. Last couple quests go by quick. There's a scene after the end-game credits that you definitely don't want to miss, so don't mash escape through the credits too quickly. Looks like a good setup for either a DLC or DA4.

[McGrupp]

Yes, I'm late getting around to this title, but as a huge fan of the series, I am simply disappointed. I'm about 10 hours in and...the story/combat just isn't good. Maybe I'm partial to Pillars and DA:O but the "tactical" camera/combat option is cumbersome. I thought positioning in Pillars was frustrating..this game takes the cake! Plus the depth of story is lacking thus far. I may try to pick it back up and finish, but very lackluster for me.

[Gogan]

Somehow missed your post a couple weeks ago, Grupp.

I know what you mean. I was pretty frustrated and disappointed with the tactical combat view when I started too. It takes a lot of getting used to, but it does get easier. Still, they could certainly make improvements here. I ended up dropping the difficulty to get through the game b/c I felt it was the controls more than anything that was holding me back.

The story wasn't spectacular, but I didn't find it terrible either. It's definitely slow though. You'll get a lot more out of it by consistently talking to all your companions. Overall, the game does get better, but it's a big investment too. I think I finished with maybe 75 hours of gameplay. Fighting the different dragons in the world is a lot of fun, and many of the character specs/skills are fun to play as well. So it has its redeeming qualities.

From what I've heard, the side quests in Witcher 3 are a lot more rewarding than DA:I. While I really prefer the slower, tactical style combat of DA as opposed to the more action/arcade style of Witcher, the fact that DA:I doesn't really deliver on the tactical side of things means they basically both play the same. So it's entirely possible Witcher3 is simply the better game between the two.

Hopefully the sequel will improve many of DA:I's deficiencies.