It's time we talk about Dragon Age: Inquisition's one severe problem

GotGame writes: Dragon Age: Inquisition suffers from one big problem and it's time we talk about it.

[OmegaShen]

Its EA, pretty almost all games with EA on them have that problem.

[Balsanoid]

My save file stopped loading after the latest patch. Around 20-25 hours lost on Nightmare difficulty. That's a severe enough problem already for me.

[breakpad]

@ OmegaShen agree ..i dont know why but not only EA,Ubisoft and Activision (and lot of other western companies) also make games which are filled with content that THEY speculate we gamers demand and like , without giving any substance and purpose for their bloated content ..with less words , the fail to understand what is appealing (is a well known characteristic of untalented teams)Also they dont try new ,odd and out of the box approaches to their games as the japanese game industry does resulting the majority of their new ideas (if they are well produced) to huge successes

[pelida]

According to this site the problem is Inquisition is mistaking form for function? which means they don't like the meaningless side quest = an story problem

"people have already been calling Dragon Age: Inquisition out for not respecting their time and having a lot of bloated content that feels like fluff compared to the meatier, story missions."

[KiwiViper85]

I love side missions, I try and do all side missions available before advancing the story.

[Silly Mammo]

Apparently this is the writers 1st RPG he's ever played, if he thinks Dragon Age is the only game that has tedious side quests. :-P

[WildArmed]

Ah, yes.

DAI should have been linear as CoD and ends in 4 hours.

That's respecting my time, right?

[kevnb]

well that was a waste of my time...

[NovusTerminus]

The power system.

I was really getting into the story of the game, then suddenly I need to stop, because I need 30 power points just to be allowed to play the story, so I am now forced to go lay side missions.

I just want to see the main story, I'll do the side missions after that. Don't force me to go through the,!

[Back-to-Back]

Im in the same boat. When I was playing on Nightmare the game basically forces you to have to complete all the side mission so you will be at the right level. I like side mission, but when I am forced to do them its a problem. Side mission like the one in Assassins Creed are awesome after I beat the main story.

[jts1891]

Or...We could talk about the glitches. You know, the weird static lines that like to pop up during cut scenes, the horrendous number of pop-ins where textures, characters etc. appear from out of nowhere etc. It's got more problems than Unity did, yet somehow no one mentions it.

[elbeasto86]

Because it's a good game, unlike Unity.

[KiwiViper85]

Unity is fantastic.

[Silly Mammo]

I've put in over 30 hrs on the PS4 and haven't had any of the problems you've mentioned.

[WildArmed]

I have about 150 hours, but rarely do I experience any issues.

Sometimes you can't talk to NPCs, but a quick save and reload fixes it right away.

[gangsta_red]

Are you playing on PS3/360?

Because those problems do not show up on my Xbox One version, but I have a friend who has had those issues but he's playing it on his 360.

[Talgrath]

The only issues I've seen have been some occasional issues with interacting with objects, usually a reload fixes those. What system are you seeing these issues on?

[DougLord]

I'm closing in on 200 hours. This game is brutal if you are a completionist. No end to the content. But you can skip all the side quests.

But what I am hoping happens is like with BG2, where the next huge DLC lets you start becoming Godlike.

[Viryu]

2 playthroughs to get Platinum trophy took me 140 hours or so, so yeah. Though I wouldn't expect any big expansions like the ones from BG2 times. If anything, those will be only smaller DLCs, and costing more.

By the way, in DA Origins your character already could become godlike, if you had all the DLCs to increase your level and skills.

[Viryu]

I somehow do agree. It's a massive step back from Mass Effect 3. In DA:I the side quests just seem so generic and lifeless. Lots of running around, backtracking and doing fetch quests as if it was some MMO. In ME3 you could do all those along the main story, while in games like Skyrim, well, you just didn't feel it was a chore, but real adventure non-stop.

Though my biggest concern with DA:I is the multiplayer. ME3 had a truly awesome multiplayer, which had pretty much everything done so perfectly. DA:I somehow just ignored its existence and didn't take any lessons from it. I've played quite a lot of multi in DA:I, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that it just lacked spirit, motivation to play further.

PS. Demon Commander one hit-killing you in multi is a total hax.

[Vermigs]

Except that a good chunk of the "side-quests" (if you can call them that) in ME3 are the most basic form of fetch quests that exist in gaming. For most of them, you don't even step foot on a planet, you just scan it and hope for the best (exceptions exist such as the N7 missions). So the same logic about the DAI side-quests being generic can also be applied to ME3. Hell, side-quests by nature are generic.

In a game with massive zones like Inquisition it's gonna be hard to avoid adding in side-quests that involve a lot of backtracking and walking around. It's just a fact of gaming at this point.

[telekineticmantis]

The combat specifically the defensive side, could of been much better. I hate when a long game makes it hard for me to want to pick up the controller and play.

[CorndogBurglar]

The tactical camera is my only complaint with the game. It was just a bare-bones camera that didn't do anything but make the fighting tedious.

[linkenski]

Is it EA or just AAA? Honestly I think they're both a factor, but the problem is that Bioware has been in a region they don't know how to navigate for the last 3 games they've made now, and I think it's more likely their call to make their games acrimony than it was EA's. It's simple game business. AAA games are much more expensive to develop, so profit has to be just as big, thus making risks that much more riskier, like going for a traditional RPG format like Baldurs Gate, because the mainstream isn't all over that.

I think for what Bioware has been aiming for ever since ME2 and DA2, they simply have too many incompetents in their lead game design department.

What the article states is true. DA:I's RPG elements are not in there to serve a function, they're just in there to ape what was hot with Skyrim and alike. It's window dressing, and Bioware should be more thoughtful about their fundamental design principles in the future.

[Talgrath]

I'd agree...except the duller stuff is completely avoidable. If you want, you can complete the game's main storyline in about 30-40 hours, just focus on the "Inner Circle" quests to get the playable characters and advisers on your side, close some rifts or fix people's stuff along the way for minimal necessary power and you're set. It's worth noting that some of the side stuff is really good though, and often you just have to wander into it which does make exploring more interesting. The collect the shards quests are dumb, as are things like "find all the landmarks", but you can ignore them completely if you so choose. I'm ignoring the bits about landmarks, for example unless I wander upon them and I've not suffered any for it. The only argument you could make is that "Power" prevents you from accessing some stuff if you want to just keep rolling, but power is stupidly easy to get, as I said if you just fix all of your Inner Circle's problems you should have more than enough.

[brich233]

I read the some comments so that I wouldnt waste my time with this article.

[Xavior_Reigns]

One severe problem? Hmm I'd say lack of STORAGE CHEST! Why? Why has Bioware not patched this in yet? Let me guess... it'll be included in DLC, ugh. Another - items not labeled for quests or such, resulting in items being sold and never seen again.

[aliengmr]

I would have gone with cinematic animations that are horrible. High time BioWare update them.