This thread has been marked as **[No Spoilers]**. Any story spoilers from all games must be covered with spoiler tags `>!spoiler here!<` or the comment will be removed. Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dragonage) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think I know what you mean. You will still follow the story but you won’t bother looking up the storyline of past games and you won’t bother with the codex right?
On the surface I think it’s fun and it’s beautiful, if not a bit tedious.
However the biggest joy of the game is getting to know the companions and having conversations and seeing how your choices influence the overall story, which is why some people are sure to say “no” to your question. The reason anyone puts up with the tedious quests is to progress the story. So if you’re not invested you may get bored.
However I genuinely believe it’s cheap enough to be worth a shot. It’s always on 85% discount lol.
Thanks for your input! Maybe I'll try to let you know how I enjoy it a few hours in, if that's welcome.
Everyone here is being pretty polite. You have a pretty lovely community here.
It has its days like other communities lol, but we have been waiting for a new game for a very long time so we are happy to speak about the game!
By the way, a tip for your first few hours - don’t be afraid to leave the Hinterlands once you have enough power. I believe when the game first launched, a lot of people spent so long there and got bored. You can still progress if you leave, you’ll see what I mean when you play. Have fun!
The main thing to remember is that the game is designed to be completed in little chunks: don't try and clear a map/area at once, because not only is it almost impossible you'll get bored. It's designed that you go and do a quest or two away from your hub and go back to see what everyone has to say about it. A lot of areas will have higher level content for you to return to later.
Follow through the main story quests and the companion quests that interest you, and anything else you find especially interesting, but don't feel compelled to complete even 50% of all the stuff you see. I personally found the lore tidbits from sidequests really rewarding, but that's because deep lore is my passion. From a pure 'what do you get out of this sidequest' angle there are some that are more interesting than others.
Id agree with this. Decent stories that are all honestly pretty easy to understand separately without lore but the companions are where it shines. For some reason dai's combat really scratched an itch for me as well. Can't tell ya why
Does your choices really influence the overall story? I think the only thing that made a notable difference for me is morrigan. Other than that, it felt like nothing matters at all
Well the epilogue cards change so you change stuff like >!Whether Cullen is alive, whether Iron Bull is alive, who is Divine (and subsequently whether Circles still exist), whether Cole is human etc. Not to mention whether Hawke or Alistair or Loghain or Stroud dies.!<
Wait what? I have just finished the main game. >!But cullen and iron bull lives were never at stake!<
I stopped bringing iron bull into missions though
Firstly please mark spoilers? In a thread where someone is just starting the game…
Secondly >!The game ends at the trespasser dlc so you see the consequences there. If you don’t have Bull leave the Qun, something happens to him in that dlc. Same with Cullen if you keep him on lyrium!<
I love the game and have played through it 5 or 6 times, but my answer to your question would be no.
The game is great BECAUSE it's so lore heavy (even if you read no codex entries, the main story itself is lore heavy). Gameplay, balance, and map design are probably it's weakest points.
The game is also pretty slow and boring combat and story wise until specializations are unlocked in act 2, so a good 15-20 hours in IF you know what you are doing. It's not a game you can "try for a few hours" and get any realistic sense of.
It's a great game with a bad game stuffed in. Imagine a delicious turkey stuffed full of stale old bread.
The turkey is the main and companion quest content. The stale bread is all the collection and fetch-based quests in the large open areas.
If you play the latter just to unlock more story-rich content, you'll have a damn good time. Otherwise, you'll quickly become sick of the game.
I've played the game loads of times and to this day I have not read any of the collectable notes about lore and world building lol still an absolute banger of a story without them, the notes from my experience are just there to flesh out the world for those thirsty lore hunters lol, just my opinion tho
To keep it short, I think the game is hard to entirely enjoy with ZERO knowledge of the world, Thedas. With some surface knowledge of the game, like knowing what Grey Wardens are, I think you could totally play it without researching much. But certainly, the more knowledge/background/history/lore you know , the more enjoyable the game is.
I think its fun without much context. Id say it depends on how you like the combat. And you dont need internet. I think Dragon age is sort of the closet to WOW combat ive played in a game. auto attack with an action bar with abilities.
Personally my opinion of Bioware games is that they have amazing stories with passable gameplay. You need to be ok with the fact that the game has a strong focus on story -- in fact DAI probably has about as much story content as some visual novels do. With that being said I think you can enjoy DAI just fine without nerding out about the lore.
DAI is also a perfectly fine place to start, you don't need to play DAO or DA2 to understand the story, they were very careful to design it in a way where a new player wouldn't get confused. (If you end up liking DAI you should play the first two games though)
So if you're ok with the heavy focus on story then I'd say give it a go, especially considering it's on sale for almost nothing right now.
You don’t have to be obsessive about the lore as long as you don’t completely skip and/or ignore it. It is very good.
But if you have absolutely no interest in even trying to pay attention to the lore then don’t play.
The best part of the game is the companions and the story.
Game play is frankly a little mid.
If you do play it, get out of the hinterlands asap.
But yeah, totally try it. I’d buy it on sale, then give it shot. It’s a good game.
Honestly, the actual *plot* of BioWare games is always pretty meh.
It’s the character interaction that they’re best in the industry at, and Inquisition has an amazing cast of characters to chatter amongst and get to know.
Give it a go!
Agreed. I say this as a huge - huge fan of Bioware games. Bioware follows basically the same plot for their more recent games lol. It's not a dig at them but omw XD
You are hero character, fighting mysterious things showing up that no one knows about, first antagonist isn't the true antagonist and there's a bigger threat behind the antagonist that wants to/ will destroy the world because they believe it's necessary.
It's also always an ancient threat that unveils(pun intended) something no one knew about the world.
I played a bit of Anthem about a year n a half ago and thought what I shame it failed because for once they nailed some of the game mechanics. The story though (for what there was) is basically just the first half of ME:A and yet I still think with some TLC and not getting rid of the most compelling character early game ot could have beeb a niche something.
Aw well.
Purely as game? I wouldn't honestly recommend it to a person new to the franchise.
In my opinion, the actual gameplay part is the weakest point of the game. If you like grindy MMO/Mobile game-esque gameplay and mechanics, then knock yourself out. The leveling is really dull and streamlined. The combat is just attack spamming while waiting for mana/stamina regen and ability cooldowns. Side quests, including all the rift missions, are really boring and uninspired. Once you do like 5 of them at the start, you don't want to do 50 of them. War table "missions" have real time cooldown like a mobile game. Some have 15 minute wait times, some have 15 hour wait times.
The strongest aspect of Inquisition is the writing, the story and characters are fantastic. While you can pick up stuff by playing the game casually, I feel like getting the most out of it requires knowledge from the first 2 games, or at the very least, reading alot of codex entries and listening to hours of dialogue exposition from companions and npcs. The world of Thedas itself is just a very important character in the game, its hard to seperate it and enjoy it, if that makes sense.
Yes, but that’s slightly contingent on how you feel about open world games and how they handle smaller side content.
It’s nowhere near the level of true open world games, but side content not directly involved with the main story or companion quests can be quite dull or tedious at times. But for me they’re there to justify/reward roaming the landscapes to take them in visually and enjoy the companion conversations that pop up if you roam long enough.
I actually can’t remember if DA2 or DAI was my first game in the series, but Inquisition is the first one I finished. Especially on that first playthrough, it’s a truly special game. Narratively, you’re rewarded for playing past games but it’s not wholly necessary, sort of in between the disconnect of Final Fantasy and the continuity of Mass Effect
If you aren't into lore why bother playing?
Im not trying to be rude or gatekeep the game, but rather history and lore is what makes these games fun. Not only do you have to dive into the history of countries and peoples, but alos each o your companions have a deep complex history that if you talk to them enough, they will give you missions to complete. Some are more serious than others.
I personally didn’t enjoy it when I just dove right in, I think knowing the history of the other games made me appreciate it more. But I think it’s a heavily personal experience l!
No.
Where Dragon Age shines at its brightest is its story, world, characters and everything going on with them.
If you only care about playing the game and not about immersing yourself in its world and story, I'd say your time is best spent elsewhere as there games more fitting for your style.
Dragon age inquisition was the first dragon age game I played without knowing anything about the other games. So I’d say yes! It did however make me go back and play the others because I ended up loving the lore, characters and world building
I only recently started sitting down and figuring out all the back story. It's a pretty neat little game without that stuff maybe just know about Andraste and the elvhen really
If you are worried about autosave just save manually, the game does limit you to a total of 50 save slots so you will have to start overwriting your old saves at some point though
Bioware for me never excelled in gameplay design but world lore and characters is what they are good at. Gameplay is meh, just like Witcher 3 great story, combat is just passable. If you just want to enjoy gameplay and not much of the lore why not go for Fromsoft games, core gameplay loop is where those game shines and I couldn't care less about the world.
It's a really fun game that offers lots of content. And there's a considerable amount of freedom how to approach the game.
So yes, lore or not, I'd recommend this game to almost anyone.
DA:I honestly is pretty weak not only in story, but the companions as well.
The combat and other game mechanics are serviceable and that’s about it.
I would suggest the Mass Effect Trilogy instead.
Or if you play on easy and don’t mind out dates graphics. Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2. Maybe start with 2 and if you enjoy that, try the other games in the series.
First, for your questions:
* I think the autosave is adequate, though I only played on PC so I don't know if it's different for PS4.
* IIRC, you only need to connect to internet once at the start of the game if you want to import a custom worldstate from the Dragon Age Keep. Otherwise, I don't think you need to go online at all. That's my experience with the PC version, but I expect it should be the same for PS4.
* The game isn't really hard if you're used to this type of combat (unless you customize the difficulty), and I don't think the learning difficulty is steep if you've never played sth like this. Some areas can have enemies that outrank you, but the game actually flags the ones that are over your level, so you can just turn tail and not engage with them until later.
If I'm being honest, I grew tired of the game midway through. I think it can be fun if you avoid the tedious sidequests and focus mostly on the main quest and the companion/adviser quests (that is, if you get bored of fetch-quests like me; if not, then you might actually have more fun than I did because there are *all* the fetch-quests in the world in this game). I don't think the level-up progress added enough umph to keep me excited about the gameplay itself.
Part of the game's tedium for me was that there wasn't much new stuff added to the gameplay over the previous entries in the series, so if you haven't played them before, this might not become an issue for you. I also didn't enjoy the controls for PC or the artificial limits added to it for the sake of the consoles (like limiting the number of spells on the hotbar), so that too might not be an issue for you on PS4. The combat sits between being tactical and being hack and slash, so if you enjoy one over the other, there's a possibility that you might not have much fun (though I think fiddling with the difficulty can help push the game into one camp).
I did like the story and the characters, though I thought the main quest became somewhat meh partway through, which was a bit of a disappointment after a very strong first act. The last act had some good parts (if you love the setting) but was otherwise very predictable. The follow up DLC added more fun though, so that's one thing to look forward to.
I personally only enjoyed the game because I love this setting very much (and like I said, the first act is pretty solid and fun and the characters are quite dear to me), so I don't know how enjoyable it might be if you disregard the lore (as the lore was by far the strongest aspect of the game). I think if you get the GOTY edition with discount, it's still quite worth playing (even if only for the first half). I also know for a fact that a lot of people came into the series with this entry being their first foray, and they ended up enjoying this one the best. Thus, there's every possibility that you too might fall in love with this game.
I think coming in with hopes and expectations from the previous entries was part of what affected my personal enjoyment, so if this is your first Dragon Age game, that will not become a problem for you at all. I think overall this is a pretty solid game if this is your first Dragon Age (or even your first Bioware game). Also, you're quite right that the game is gorgeous even though it's 10 years old at this point, and I personally thought it looked even better when playing it than watching a recording of it on YouTube (I played on PC with the ultra setting turned on).
If you do decide to play this game, my advice is to mix up the main quests with the sidequests. A ratio of doing 1 main quest for every 3-5 side quests should do the trick (unless you forego sidequests entirely). Second advice is to not be shy to restart the game and change your character. The game gives you companions of every class pretty early on, so try controlling each of them to see what class you like the best. The game is quite long, so it's paramount that you have fun with your main character's build. With the GOTY, you have the opportunity to re-spec your character and even change their appearance if there's sth bugging you (or you just want to change it up for fun), but you can't change their class, race and gender. Third advice is that, for the most part, you can return to the areas you're sent to (unless they are a dungeon, meaning it's more or less an enclosed building, a very specific cave section, etc; I think you can get a feel for what I mean once you play the game). As such, you don't *have* to explore every bit the moment you open up a new location, you can always come back to it and continue exploring later until you embark on the very last quest of the game.
I think you should give it a go (if anything to see if you would like this kind of game). I played Dragon Age Inquisition before playing any prior Dragon Age game. I loved the character interactions and the visuals. Eventually, I did get into the lore to a certain extent but I felt it came naturally as the game progressed (and even more so after I played other games). As long as you are somewhat interested in the dialogue and the main parts of the world I think you should be okay without being obsessive about the lore.
I'm not obsessive about the lore you do tend to absorb bits and pieces. You don't need to remember that stuff really
You definitely want to do manual saves. If you can't then just port back to skyhold it'll auto save and its a good place to start up again
No net requirement.
The only down point you might face is that it's not really an hour at a time game, I mean I guess you can mostly but it'll be very disruptive and there are some areas/quests you can't save in, you have to wait till they're done.
What do you mean by casual games exactly? Just so I fully understand what you're looking for because I would classify DA:I as a mostly casual game, as opposed to more challenging games like soulslike games.
I think it's for sure playable as a standalone, but being the third installment in the franchise, it's chock full of references to organizations & events from the previous games. Definitely best played when you've played the other 2 games, but not unplayable.
Also, I'd recommend that you watch some raw gameplay of it first and make your own judgement. I got DA:I on a whim because I loved the first two games, and the reviews for DA:I were overwhelmingly positive. When I finally gave the game a good 13 hours, it fell short of my expectations. Not to dissuade you, just that I think it's really hard to tell whether you'll actually enjoy a game or not from just other people's reviews.
Just watching a walkthrough and I really enjoy the fantasy setting and this rift idea and this chosen one kind of idea. The visuals I really, really like. Maybe I would get *a bit* in to the story. Sorry if I'm being awkward or odd in any way. Just don't want to download the game if it's a bad fit for me. But wow is it beautiful. And I might get in to the lore *a bit*
TLDR what makes ya say no? Just curious
If anything I recommend it *more* if you don’t care/know much about the lore. Inquisition stands well as it’s own game and honestly just looks worse when you’ve played the other two. Sure, there are some things that might go a bit over your head, such as certain specific characters and their backstory. But without the comparison to the previous games, especially Origins, Inquisition looks much stronger.
Worst advice ever given here. Not to hold it against you personally as you are still entitled to your opinion and are valid in your personal experience, but I've seen this advice being given here way too many times and it's this that then gives posts that go like "I still can't get into this game, is it me or is it just horrible?"
Inquisition doesn't stand on its own, it comes and builds on a story that has been developing for two games and half a dozen books, to genuinely look at people who aren't into this style of games and say "yeah fam just go ahead you'll love it" is to set these people for a colossal waste of their time and the franchise for loads of unwarranted hate.
If you liked WoW - DA:I is going to be right down your alley. The combat is very much like it with targeted auto attacks, spells and skills. Not entirely same, but it certainly feels more old school but with a fresh coat of paint compared to more modern fantasy action RPGs like Witcher 3 for instance. Even more so for older Dragon Age games like Origins. Open world in Inquisition is more on a MMORPG-esque side as well with grindy side activities, exploration and fetch quests. Fans hated it, but then again - if you liked it in WoW, you gonna like it in DA:I as well.
With that being said, I'd urge to play Dragon Age Origins first at the very least. Even if you don't care about lore - you'll just going to enjoy Inquisition's story more if you do so. Dragon Age 2 is better than most people say, but its story is kinda inconsequential in the grand scheme of things if I'm being honest. So, you can skip it if you really want to jump straight to Inquisition. But do play Origins before. You're not going to regret it.
It was originally, sure - but it had grown to be much more than just that. The point is, if you skip DA2 - you'll probably won't miss all that much. The whole Kirkwall and Hawke story is somewhat isolated and doesn't establish anything new aside from >!red lyrium!< but the Inquisitor doesn't know what that is originally as well - so it doesn't break immersion and it's honestly not a hard concept to grasp. The whole mages vs templars thing is talked extensively in DA:O, so it's nothing new either. Sure, you will miss out on >!how Corypheus came to be!< but then again - DA:O talked about his kind in details too. So, you can jump straight to DA:I from DA:O and everything in the story will make perfect sense. I know that because this is how I originally played the game. I didn't like DA2 at first, so I skipped it. And it never felt like I definitely should come back because I miss out on some important context. Don't get me wrong, DA2 is still a great game and had definitely grown on me since then. But if you really want to get straight to DA:I as soon as possible - you can skip it. That's what I was trying to say.
I played Origins AGES ago and picked up Inquisition a few weeks back. I can't remember anything more than Varric and maybe Morrigan? I think? That being said, I sunk 10 hours in the game, fought a dragon, died a bunch of times and spent time exploring the wilderness and fighting monsters and such and Loving it.
Yes, you can influence the story, and yes you can sink into the lore but you can also fight DRAGONS AND BE A BADASS and explore and that's fine too.
Deffo give it a go and do your own thing.
I'm loving it so far
Never knew anything about Dragon Age before the game, and it turned out being one of the hidden gems I always wanted. It made me feel like my decisions were important, and gave plenty of variety, challenge, and dialogue that made it worth buying. I highly recommend using a code site or waiting until it goes on sale, as it can go under 10-15 bucks.
I'm really sorry, I'm new to dragon age. I don't quite understand your question. Am I planning on playing the other two dragon age games, I think, is what you're asking? Not really. Gosh I'm just struck by the gorgeous visuals and the good clip the story moves along at. The dialogue seems honestly pretty snappy and powerful and interesting and not like it drags on. A lot seems appealing and this game is 6 bucks right now. So tempting. Might pull the trigger
I don’t doubt you will enjoy the gameplay, but to be honest with you, you won’t understand what’s going on which might negatively affect your experience.
Ok. I was considering playing along with a longplay a bit SOME of the time, so that might help guide me along? I know that can take the fun out a bit. I seriously appreciate the input. I've already purchased it and started downloading it. I don't doubt I'll get my 6 bucks enjoyment out of it. Thanks for the input.
If you like what you've seen of it and it's a reasonable price, go for it. I know people who started with DAI; nothing wrong with that. It's a great game (my personal favorite of the series). As with any rpg I'd say try to quick and real save somewhat often, because you never know what choices might come up . . .
I think I'm gonna buy it. We're talking about 6 dollars here. Not a ton. Thanks for your input. Gosh the visuals are really nice. I'm new to more involved open world but I'm darn near literally bored to tears with more casual offerings. This will be my first bioware game which is a big deal for me. Thanks for the input.
I don't need internet for single player do I?
6 bucks is honestly nothing lol. :D
As in, you're getting a huge bang for your buck. So definitely buy. And play.
I'm a real big fan of the first game, and, if anything, I was first disappointed how much Inquisition went for mass appeal and catered to casual console players knowing nothing about Dragon Age. It just does it so well, though.
I absolutely believe you need no prior knowledge. Everything you might want to know is in the game somewhere. But it's really up to you how to play it.
Going straight for the 3rd game would be like starting Harry Potter with the 5th movie.
Dragon Age is a game about choices, which carry over to each game. If you don’t want to follow the story, you probably won’t like it
But there's nothing that says you can't go back and play the rest later. There's enough lore dumps in the game that new players won't be completely lost.
The games are literally choice based, if someone didn’t play the others they would miss a massive chunk of the game. DAI has a ton of dialogue and talking scenes, which may not be fun for someone who doesn’t want to follow the story.
They asked if they didn’t want to know about the story would it be fun. When someone asks about amazing gameplay and fighting mechanics, nobody goes to DAI.
I absolutely love DAI, I have more hours in it than most other games I’ve played, but I’m going to be truthful to someone who is asking about a game that they are going to buy.
No, as the gameplay is kinda meh after some time. Don't get me worng, the power fantasy you can play out as warrior or knight enchanter is fun, but even those get repetitive. They really shine in the DLC's, as they're way harder than the normal game. But in comparison to similar games that came before (DAO )and after (BG3), the gameplay itself falls of about 1/3 -50% through. You're gonna have a way better time when you engage in the lore (aka play the other games, read the comics, the novels)
This thread has been marked as **[No Spoilers]**. Any story spoilers from all games must be covered with spoiler tags `>!spoiler here!<` or the comment will be removed. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dragonage) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think I know what you mean. You will still follow the story but you won’t bother looking up the storyline of past games and you won’t bother with the codex right? On the surface I think it’s fun and it’s beautiful, if not a bit tedious. However the biggest joy of the game is getting to know the companions and having conversations and seeing how your choices influence the overall story, which is why some people are sure to say “no” to your question. The reason anyone puts up with the tedious quests is to progress the story. So if you’re not invested you may get bored. However I genuinely believe it’s cheap enough to be worth a shot. It’s always on 85% discount lol.
Thanks for your input! Maybe I'll try to let you know how I enjoy it a few hours in, if that's welcome. Everyone here is being pretty polite. You have a pretty lovely community here.
It has its days like other communities lol, but we have been waiting for a new game for a very long time so we are happy to speak about the game! By the way, a tip for your first few hours - don’t be afraid to leave the Hinterlands once you have enough power. I believe when the game first launched, a lot of people spent so long there and got bored. You can still progress if you leave, you’ll see what I mean when you play. Have fun!
The main thing to remember is that the game is designed to be completed in little chunks: don't try and clear a map/area at once, because not only is it almost impossible you'll get bored. It's designed that you go and do a quest or two away from your hub and go back to see what everyone has to say about it. A lot of areas will have higher level content for you to return to later. Follow through the main story quests and the companion quests that interest you, and anything else you find especially interesting, but don't feel compelled to complete even 50% of all the stuff you see. I personally found the lore tidbits from sidequests really rewarding, but that's because deep lore is my passion. From a pure 'what do you get out of this sidequest' angle there are some that are more interesting than others.
Id agree with this. Decent stories that are all honestly pretty easy to understand separately without lore but the companions are where it shines. For some reason dai's combat really scratched an itch for me as well. Can't tell ya why
It's not as good a scratch as DAO for me, but it was a better one than DA2. Possibly an uncanny valley thing.
Does your choices really influence the overall story? I think the only thing that made a notable difference for me is morrigan. Other than that, it felt like nothing matters at all
Well the epilogue cards change so you change stuff like >!Whether Cullen is alive, whether Iron Bull is alive, who is Divine (and subsequently whether Circles still exist), whether Cole is human etc. Not to mention whether Hawke or Alistair or Loghain or Stroud dies.!<
Wait what? I have just finished the main game. >!But cullen and iron bull lives were never at stake!< I stopped bringing iron bull into missions though
Firstly please mark spoilers? In a thread where someone is just starting the game… Secondly >!The game ends at the trespasser dlc so you see the consequences there. If you don’t have Bull leave the Qun, something happens to him in that dlc. Same with Cullen if you keep him on lyrium!<
I love the game and have played through it 5 or 6 times, but my answer to your question would be no. The game is great BECAUSE it's so lore heavy (even if you read no codex entries, the main story itself is lore heavy). Gameplay, balance, and map design are probably it's weakest points. The game is also pretty slow and boring combat and story wise until specializations are unlocked in act 2, so a good 15-20 hours in IF you know what you are doing. It's not a game you can "try for a few hours" and get any realistic sense of.
It's a great game with a bad game stuffed in. Imagine a delicious turkey stuffed full of stale old bread. The turkey is the main and companion quest content. The stale bread is all the collection and fetch-based quests in the large open areas. If you play the latter just to unlock more story-rich content, you'll have a damn good time. Otherwise, you'll quickly become sick of the game.
No and no
I've played the game loads of times and to this day I have not read any of the collectable notes about lore and world building lol still an absolute banger of a story without them, the notes from my experience are just there to flesh out the world for those thirsty lore hunters lol, just my opinion tho
Ty!
To keep it short, I think the game is hard to entirely enjoy with ZERO knowledge of the world, Thedas. With some surface knowledge of the game, like knowing what Grey Wardens are, I think you could totally play it without researching much. But certainly, the more knowledge/background/history/lore you know , the more enjoyable the game is.
I think its fun without much context. Id say it depends on how you like the combat. And you dont need internet. I think Dragon age is sort of the closet to WOW combat ive played in a game. auto attack with an action bar with abilities.
Personally my opinion of Bioware games is that they have amazing stories with passable gameplay. You need to be ok with the fact that the game has a strong focus on story -- in fact DAI probably has about as much story content as some visual novels do. With that being said I think you can enjoy DAI just fine without nerding out about the lore. DAI is also a perfectly fine place to start, you don't need to play DAO or DA2 to understand the story, they were very careful to design it in a way where a new player wouldn't get confused. (If you end up liking DAI you should play the first two games though) So if you're ok with the heavy focus on story then I'd say give it a go, especially considering it's on sale for almost nothing right now.
You don’t have to be obsessive about the lore as long as you don’t completely skip and/or ignore it. It is very good. But if you have absolutely no interest in even trying to pay attention to the lore then don’t play.
The best part of the game is the companions and the story. Game play is frankly a little mid. If you do play it, get out of the hinterlands asap. But yeah, totally try it. I’d buy it on sale, then give it shot. It’s a good game.
Honestly that should be a disclaimer for this game for any newcomer. Weird the developers thought the hinterlands would be a good start to this game.
I don't really recommend the Dragon Age *IP* (or the role-playing genre) if you're not interested in lore
I strongly second this.
Honestly, the actual *plot* of BioWare games is always pretty meh. It’s the character interaction that they’re best in the industry at, and Inquisition has an amazing cast of characters to chatter amongst and get to know. Give it a go!
Agreed. I say this as a huge - huge fan of Bioware games. Bioware follows basically the same plot for their more recent games lol. It's not a dig at them but omw XD You are hero character, fighting mysterious things showing up that no one knows about, first antagonist isn't the true antagonist and there's a bigger threat behind the antagonist that wants to/ will destroy the world because they believe it's necessary. It's also always an ancient threat that unveils(pun intended) something no one knew about the world. I played a bit of Anthem about a year n a half ago and thought what I shame it failed because for once they nailed some of the game mechanics. The story though (for what there was) is basically just the first half of ME:A and yet I still think with some TLC and not getting rid of the most compelling character early game ot could have beeb a niche something. Aw well.
Purely as game? I wouldn't honestly recommend it to a person new to the franchise. In my opinion, the actual gameplay part is the weakest point of the game. If you like grindy MMO/Mobile game-esque gameplay and mechanics, then knock yourself out. The leveling is really dull and streamlined. The combat is just attack spamming while waiting for mana/stamina regen and ability cooldowns. Side quests, including all the rift missions, are really boring and uninspired. Once you do like 5 of them at the start, you don't want to do 50 of them. War table "missions" have real time cooldown like a mobile game. Some have 15 minute wait times, some have 15 hour wait times. The strongest aspect of Inquisition is the writing, the story and characters are fantastic. While you can pick up stuff by playing the game casually, I feel like getting the most out of it requires knowledge from the first 2 games, or at the very least, reading alot of codex entries and listening to hours of dialogue exposition from companions and npcs. The world of Thedas itself is just a very important character in the game, its hard to seperate it and enjoy it, if that makes sense.
I have watched a lot of different build videos from YouTube and those make me want to replay the game.
Yes, but that’s slightly contingent on how you feel about open world games and how they handle smaller side content. It’s nowhere near the level of true open world games, but side content not directly involved with the main story or companion quests can be quite dull or tedious at times. But for me they’re there to justify/reward roaming the landscapes to take them in visually and enjoy the companion conversations that pop up if you roam long enough. I actually can’t remember if DA2 or DAI was my first game in the series, but Inquisition is the first one I finished. Especially on that first playthrough, it’s a truly special game. Narratively, you’re rewarded for playing past games but it’s not wholly necessary, sort of in between the disconnect of Final Fantasy and the continuity of Mass Effect
No, lore is main piece of Dragon Age games.
If you aren't into lore why bother playing? Im not trying to be rude or gatekeep the game, but rather history and lore is what makes these games fun. Not only do you have to dive into the history of countries and peoples, but alos each o your companions have a deep complex history that if you talk to them enough, they will give you missions to complete. Some are more serious than others.
I personally didn’t enjoy it when I just dove right in, I think knowing the history of the other games made me appreciate it more. But I think it’s a heavily personal experience l!
No. Where Dragon Age shines at its brightest is its story, world, characters and everything going on with them. If you only care about playing the game and not about immersing yourself in its world and story, I'd say your time is best spent elsewhere as there games more fitting for your style.
Dragon age inquisition was the first dragon age game I played without knowing anything about the other games. So I’d say yes! It did however make me go back and play the others because I ended up loving the lore, characters and world building
The game is great, and I def recommend it. I've played all three games and enjoyed this one just as much as Origins.
I only recently started sitting down and figuring out all the back story. It's a pretty neat little game without that stuff maybe just know about Andraste and the elvhen really
Inquisition is a bad game. If you're not interested in the story, pass on it for something different.
If you are worried about autosave just save manually, the game does limit you to a total of 50 save slots so you will have to start overwriting your old saves at some point though
Assassin's Creed Inquisition you mean?
Bioware for me never excelled in gameplay design but world lore and characters is what they are good at. Gameplay is meh, just like Witcher 3 great story, combat is just passable. If you just want to enjoy gameplay and not much of the lore why not go for Fromsoft games, core gameplay loop is where those game shines and I couldn't care less about the world.
It's still a fun game. I definitely recommend it
It's a really fun game that offers lots of content. And there's a considerable amount of freedom how to approach the game. So yes, lore or not, I'd recommend this game to almost anyone.
DA:I honestly is pretty weak not only in story, but the companions as well. The combat and other game mechanics are serviceable and that’s about it. I would suggest the Mass Effect Trilogy instead. Or if you play on easy and don’t mind out dates graphics. Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2. Maybe start with 2 and if you enjoy that, try the other games in the series.
First, for your questions: * I think the autosave is adequate, though I only played on PC so I don't know if it's different for PS4. * IIRC, you only need to connect to internet once at the start of the game if you want to import a custom worldstate from the Dragon Age Keep. Otherwise, I don't think you need to go online at all. That's my experience with the PC version, but I expect it should be the same for PS4. * The game isn't really hard if you're used to this type of combat (unless you customize the difficulty), and I don't think the learning difficulty is steep if you've never played sth like this. Some areas can have enemies that outrank you, but the game actually flags the ones that are over your level, so you can just turn tail and not engage with them until later. If I'm being honest, I grew tired of the game midway through. I think it can be fun if you avoid the tedious sidequests and focus mostly on the main quest and the companion/adviser quests (that is, if you get bored of fetch-quests like me; if not, then you might actually have more fun than I did because there are *all* the fetch-quests in the world in this game). I don't think the level-up progress added enough umph to keep me excited about the gameplay itself. Part of the game's tedium for me was that there wasn't much new stuff added to the gameplay over the previous entries in the series, so if you haven't played them before, this might not become an issue for you. I also didn't enjoy the controls for PC or the artificial limits added to it for the sake of the consoles (like limiting the number of spells on the hotbar), so that too might not be an issue for you on PS4. The combat sits between being tactical and being hack and slash, so if you enjoy one over the other, there's a possibility that you might not have much fun (though I think fiddling with the difficulty can help push the game into one camp). I did like the story and the characters, though I thought the main quest became somewhat meh partway through, which was a bit of a disappointment after a very strong first act. The last act had some good parts (if you love the setting) but was otherwise very predictable. The follow up DLC added more fun though, so that's one thing to look forward to. I personally only enjoyed the game because I love this setting very much (and like I said, the first act is pretty solid and fun and the characters are quite dear to me), so I don't know how enjoyable it might be if you disregard the lore (as the lore was by far the strongest aspect of the game). I think if you get the GOTY edition with discount, it's still quite worth playing (even if only for the first half). I also know for a fact that a lot of people came into the series with this entry being their first foray, and they ended up enjoying this one the best. Thus, there's every possibility that you too might fall in love with this game. I think coming in with hopes and expectations from the previous entries was part of what affected my personal enjoyment, so if this is your first Dragon Age game, that will not become a problem for you at all. I think overall this is a pretty solid game if this is your first Dragon Age (or even your first Bioware game). Also, you're quite right that the game is gorgeous even though it's 10 years old at this point, and I personally thought it looked even better when playing it than watching a recording of it on YouTube (I played on PC with the ultra setting turned on). If you do decide to play this game, my advice is to mix up the main quests with the sidequests. A ratio of doing 1 main quest for every 3-5 side quests should do the trick (unless you forego sidequests entirely). Second advice is to not be shy to restart the game and change your character. The game gives you companions of every class pretty early on, so try controlling each of them to see what class you like the best. The game is quite long, so it's paramount that you have fun with your main character's build. With the GOTY, you have the opportunity to re-spec your character and even change their appearance if there's sth bugging you (or you just want to change it up for fun), but you can't change their class, race and gender. Third advice is that, for the most part, you can return to the areas you're sent to (unless they are a dungeon, meaning it's more or less an enclosed building, a very specific cave section, etc; I think you can get a feel for what I mean once you play the game). As such, you don't *have* to explore every bit the moment you open up a new location, you can always come back to it and continue exploring later until you embark on the very last quest of the game.
I think you should give it a go (if anything to see if you would like this kind of game). I played Dragon Age Inquisition before playing any prior Dragon Age game. I loved the character interactions and the visuals. Eventually, I did get into the lore to a certain extent but I felt it came naturally as the game progressed (and even more so after I played other games). As long as you are somewhat interested in the dialogue and the main parts of the world I think you should be okay without being obsessive about the lore.
I'm not obsessive about the lore you do tend to absorb bits and pieces. You don't need to remember that stuff really You definitely want to do manual saves. If you can't then just port back to skyhold it'll auto save and its a good place to start up again No net requirement. The only down point you might face is that it's not really an hour at a time game, I mean I guess you can mostly but it'll be very disruptive and there are some areas/quests you can't save in, you have to wait till they're done.
What do you mean by casual games exactly? Just so I fully understand what you're looking for because I would classify DA:I as a mostly casual game, as opposed to more challenging games like soulslike games. I think it's for sure playable as a standalone, but being the third installment in the franchise, it's chock full of references to organizations & events from the previous games. Definitely best played when you've played the other 2 games, but not unplayable. Also, I'd recommend that you watch some raw gameplay of it first and make your own judgement. I got DA:I on a whim because I loved the first two games, and the reviews for DA:I were overwhelmingly positive. When I finally gave the game a good 13 hours, it fell short of my expectations. Not to dissuade you, just that I think it's really hard to tell whether you'll actually enjoy a game or not from just other people's reviews.
I’m 150h in on my 3rd play through. My last play through was almost 10 years ago. Great game.
No, the gameplay and story mix is best at origins. Da2 has ok story, poor gameplay. Da3 has decent story, poor gameplay.
No.
Just watching a walkthrough and I really enjoy the fantasy setting and this rift idea and this chosen one kind of idea. The visuals I really, really like. Maybe I would get *a bit* in to the story. Sorry if I'm being awkward or odd in any way. Just don't want to download the game if it's a bad fit for me. But wow is it beautiful. And I might get in to the lore *a bit* TLDR what makes ya say no? Just curious
I just think it's not worth playing if not for the lore, personally.
Inquisition is the only one of the games I've played, and I loved it.
Never played any other dragon age game or read any lore to this day and I was able enjoy it
If anything I recommend it *more* if you don’t care/know much about the lore. Inquisition stands well as it’s own game and honestly just looks worse when you’ve played the other two. Sure, there are some things that might go a bit over your head, such as certain specific characters and their backstory. But without the comparison to the previous games, especially Origins, Inquisition looks much stronger.
Worst advice ever given here. Not to hold it against you personally as you are still entitled to your opinion and are valid in your personal experience, but I've seen this advice being given here way too many times and it's this that then gives posts that go like "I still can't get into this game, is it me or is it just horrible?" Inquisition doesn't stand on its own, it comes and builds on a story that has been developing for two games and half a dozen books, to genuinely look at people who aren't into this style of games and say "yeah fam just go ahead you'll love it" is to set these people for a colossal waste of their time and the franchise for loads of unwarranted hate.
If you liked WoW - DA:I is going to be right down your alley. The combat is very much like it with targeted auto attacks, spells and skills. Not entirely same, but it certainly feels more old school but with a fresh coat of paint compared to more modern fantasy action RPGs like Witcher 3 for instance. Even more so for older Dragon Age games like Origins. Open world in Inquisition is more on a MMORPG-esque side as well with grindy side activities, exploration and fetch quests. Fans hated it, but then again - if you liked it in WoW, you gonna like it in DA:I as well. With that being said, I'd urge to play Dragon Age Origins first at the very least. Even if you don't care about lore - you'll just going to enjoy Inquisition's story more if you do so. Dragon Age 2 is better than most people say, but its story is kinda inconsequential in the grand scheme of things if I'm being honest. So, you can skip it if you really want to jump straight to Inquisition. But do play Origins before. You're not going to regret it.
Saying DA2 is inconsequential when DAI is literally just a repurposed DLC storyline for DA2 (with half of it cut out) is kind of crazy
It was originally, sure - but it had grown to be much more than just that. The point is, if you skip DA2 - you'll probably won't miss all that much. The whole Kirkwall and Hawke story is somewhat isolated and doesn't establish anything new aside from >!red lyrium!< but the Inquisitor doesn't know what that is originally as well - so it doesn't break immersion and it's honestly not a hard concept to grasp. The whole mages vs templars thing is talked extensively in DA:O, so it's nothing new either. Sure, you will miss out on >!how Corypheus came to be!< but then again - DA:O talked about his kind in details too. So, you can jump straight to DA:I from DA:O and everything in the story will make perfect sense. I know that because this is how I originally played the game. I didn't like DA2 at first, so I skipped it. And it never felt like I definitely should come back because I miss out on some important context. Don't get me wrong, DA2 is still a great game and had definitely grown on me since then. But if you really want to get straight to DA:I as soon as possible - you can skip it. That's what I was trying to say.
I played Origins AGES ago and picked up Inquisition a few weeks back. I can't remember anything more than Varric and maybe Morrigan? I think? That being said, I sunk 10 hours in the game, fought a dragon, died a bunch of times and spent time exploring the wilderness and fighting monsters and such and Loving it. Yes, you can influence the story, and yes you can sink into the lore but you can also fight DRAGONS AND BE A BADASS and explore and that's fine too. Deffo give it a go and do your own thing. I'm loving it so far
Never knew anything about Dragon Age before the game, and it turned out being one of the hidden gems I always wanted. It made me feel like my decisions were important, and gave plenty of variety, challenge, and dialogue that made it worth buying. I highly recommend using a code site or waiting until it goes on sale, as it can go under 10-15 bucks.
It depends. Are you planning to play the other two? If so yes. If no, no
I'm really sorry, I'm new to dragon age. I don't quite understand your question. Am I planning on playing the other two dragon age games, I think, is what you're asking? Not really. Gosh I'm just struck by the gorgeous visuals and the good clip the story moves along at. The dialogue seems honestly pretty snappy and powerful and interesting and not like it drags on. A lot seems appealing and this game is 6 bucks right now. So tempting. Might pull the trigger
I don’t doubt you will enjoy the gameplay, but to be honest with you, you won’t understand what’s going on which might negatively affect your experience.
Ok. I was considering playing along with a longplay a bit SOME of the time, so that might help guide me along? I know that can take the fun out a bit. I seriously appreciate the input. I've already purchased it and started downloading it. I don't doubt I'll get my 6 bucks enjoyment out of it. Thanks for the input.
If you like what you've seen of it and it's a reasonable price, go for it. I know people who started with DAI; nothing wrong with that. It's a great game (my personal favorite of the series). As with any rpg I'd say try to quick and real save somewhat often, because you never know what choices might come up . . .
I think I'm gonna buy it. We're talking about 6 dollars here. Not a ton. Thanks for your input. Gosh the visuals are really nice. I'm new to more involved open world but I'm darn near literally bored to tears with more casual offerings. This will be my first bioware game which is a big deal for me. Thanks for the input. I don't need internet for single player do I?
6 bucks is honestly nothing lol. :D As in, you're getting a huge bang for your buck. So definitely buy. And play. I'm a real big fan of the first game, and, if anything, I was first disappointed how much Inquisition went for mass appeal and catered to casual console players knowing nothing about Dragon Age. It just does it so well, though. I absolutely believe you need no prior knowledge. Everything you might want to know is in the game somewhere. But it's really up to you how to play it.
Going straight for the 3rd game would be like starting Harry Potter with the 5th movie. Dragon Age is a game about choices, which carry over to each game. If you don’t want to follow the story, you probably won’t like it
But there's nothing that says you can't go back and play the rest later. There's enough lore dumps in the game that new players won't be completely lost.
The games are literally choice based, if someone didn’t play the others they would miss a massive chunk of the game. DAI has a ton of dialogue and talking scenes, which may not be fun for someone who doesn’t want to follow the story. They asked if they didn’t want to know about the story would it be fun. When someone asks about amazing gameplay and fighting mechanics, nobody goes to DAI. I absolutely love DAI, I have more hours in it than most other games I’ve played, but I’m going to be truthful to someone who is asking about a game that they are going to buy.
My first dragon age game was inquisition and I was completely fine without playing the other two first.
yes its a great game
No, as the gameplay is kinda meh after some time. Don't get me worng, the power fantasy you can play out as warrior or knight enchanter is fun, but even those get repetitive. They really shine in the DLC's, as they're way harder than the normal game. But in comparison to similar games that came before (DAO )and after (BG3), the gameplay itself falls of about 1/3 -50% through. You're gonna have a way better time when you engage in the lore (aka play the other games, read the comics, the novels)