If you can’t get thru DA2 then you shouldn’t ever try DAI. Well, maybe if you want a Skyrim version of DA you could try it. Like I said, I did enjoy it, the DA bones were there, but it was not the same game.
DA2 had some problems, but the character interaction and the story were good.
I launched it shortly before replacing my rig, and I couldn’t even remember what the main quest was… something about a dwarf road and roads. It’s so… not memorable.
Well, DA2 is about the Templars and the Mages. With some side stories. It covers several years, and is told thru the words of a dwarf who reappears in DAI. The implementation isn’t the best, too many assets are re-used, but I liked it. Admittedly, probably more than most.
I was seriously turned off by DA2 and played through DA:I to the end.
I think Inquisition is a much better game than 2. And I liked 2 enough to finish it, despite a disastrously ill-conceived final act that unfortunately Inquisition had to follow on from. Thankfully it pretty much washes its hands of that shit as soon as gracefully possible.
Counterpoint: the Deep Roads
Seriously, it took me like 3 tries over several years to finally get through that monstrosity.
Hat said a fully upgraded Mana Burn was a thing of beauty. Oh hi mr enemy spell caster
Mana Burn
Oh hi pile of glowing ash.
One of my problems with DA:I was all the cut scenes. So many events were taken out of the hands of the player and just shown thru cut scenes. So much of the story telling was done that way.
Man, I didn’t care for Origins at all. It just seemed like generic Bioware Chosen One off the save the world again. And I liked the characters in DA2 much better too. Haven’t played Inquisition yet, though. One of these days.
…for example, some ideas I’ve heard floated for Morrison’s multiplayer include companions that can be controlled by multiple players via drop-in/drop-out co-op, similar to old-school BioWare RPGs like Baldur’s Gate…
As if anyone played this way!
How do people in charge of projects end up thinking such deluded things?
Agreed in many ways - but DA2 has some pretty awful features that leave it feeling quite hollow. I preferred the overall story, but the execution was lacking.
Inquisition is, I think, the best of the three provided you are prepared to sample from its content in a decadent, profligate sort of way - biting out the tastiest, succulent bits that interest you, and throwing the remaining content (so much content! so much boring repetitive auto-generated content!) to the floor in wasteful extravagance.
I actually played through the entirety of the original Baldur’s Gate that way. I don’t think it was a sensible design decision though.
Dropping in and out of a stranger’s game?
I can see playing it with a friend might be fun (I’ve played a little of BG2 that way myself, and had fun, but it can’t be more than some tiny, tiny fraction of my time with that game, let alone my interest in it).
Divinity Original Sin 2 kind of works that way… sort of.
Oh, I hear you; I generally dislike GaaS approaches, and I really love a solid, well-designed, well-executed game that stands on its own. Sadly, I doubt that is very compelling to accountants.
From a money perspective… GaAS fails because you can only have so many going at once. They just hope their the “winner” somehow. Also from the money side, a failed GaAS project is not better than a good launch of a regular game, at least I don’t think it does. i know it can’t compare to like a Fortnite or something, but I don’t see how a bad game helps anyone, customers or the company.
I am not opposed to ongoing content, depending on how they handle it, but if they don’t get me out of the gate, it makes little to no sense to worry about residual money. Hell if RDR2 actually let me play in a gang with coop, I’d probably would pay for that.
Uh, Divinity’s co-op is a significant part of its success. It’s not about dropping in/out of a stranger’s game, it’s about being able to invite your friends to participate however much you want, whether that’s 100% always play together, mostly play together except I’ll do these side quests myself, or even just “help me out with this rough battle”
I love GAAS when the base game is great. More of a great game! I hate GAAS when it’s an excuse to release barebones, half-assed messes like Anthem.
For games that I really like, I buy every piece of DLC.
Of course. The game hast to be good, or at least sell, before anything else. No argument there.
For me, Bioware games were always about story and characters.
I thought the story of DA:I was great, especially some of the DLC.
Stories are what they should focus on. That is the Bioware magic, not inventory systems or graphics or gameplay.
The backlash against them is because their stories have fallen flat. ME 3 ending and ME:A. People would have forgiven “my face is tired” if the game engaged them.