Interesting talk with Bioware’s Laidlaw over at Eurogamer.
BioWare had between 14 and 16 months to build Dragon Age 2, from concept to the game appearing on shop shelves. This was a game with half a million words of dialogue. “It’s impossible,” Laidlaw says. “I tell other people that and they kind of get all blanched and go, oh my god, are you okay?”
I firmly believe that both KOTOR 2 and DA2 would have been masterpieces if given twice the development time they had. I enjoyed them both but they were horribly flawed gems.
KOTOR2 had its problems but the quality of the game and writing in particular surpassed them, even upon release. Dragon Age 2 I found unplayable, with its waves of enemies and generic re-used areas.
I agree they are horribly flawed, but I still enjoyed them. In KOTOR’s case, more than the first game. In DA’s, I definitely enjoyed 2 more than Inquisition but not sure how I feel about it in comparison to the first game. In some ways, DA2 was more fun but overall DA:O was the better game.
KOTOR2 has some pretty subversive ideas going on in there too, like hey maybe it’s not all light vs dark. Even if the game were crap, and it’s not, it would be worth checking out for that.
Yeah one that believes in “balance” in the force more or less – 15 (12?) years prior to the recent stuff. Great game plus the mods and stuff are readily available on steam. It holds up pretty well too. Good villians. Mostly.
So, I think its finally time to give this game a try. Really enjoyed DA:O but then I skipped DA2 as I didn’t appreciate their changes. From what I understand this is more of a hybrid between those 2 versions?
Anyway, any mods I should give a try?
eg I heard there is a option to get a bit more of the tactical camera view from DAO back.
Trying to play Inquisition in ‘tactical’ mode is a recipe for frustration. I play it with all the tactical finesse of Mass Effect i.e. it’s a third-person action game with AI friends.
Hehe… Not really encouraging, but then the game didn’t cost me much, so if its really just a over shoulder actioner, then I might tap out sooner than I thought.
I honestly think it has great plot, production values, characters, voice-acting and gameplay, albeit without the tactical finesse of something like Pillars of Eternity.
Don’t do the boring sidequests. If it doesn’t look interesting - if you don’t get an interesting dialogue at the start of the quest, basically - ignore it. There are enough MMO-style sidequests of collect 100 gizmos to drive you mad if you attempt even a tenth of them.
Pretend you are some opulent diner at a banquet. You can’t possibly eat it all. So take a bite from all the good stuff, and discard the rest in wasteful, decadent abandon.
Staying too long in Hinterlands would be like filling up on the free bread before the main course.
Unfortunately, combat in Inquisition is nearly entirely taken from DA2, except minus the immersion breaking reinforcement waves spawning out of thin air. (Well, except for the Fade rifts. But they have an excuse, and follow a clear pattern.)
Yup. Leave the grindy Hinterlands so you can enter a new, equally grindy shitzone asap. Whole game is like that, you can’t escape it. The game is like a 2007 MMO that only you logged into, better come to terms with it now and adjust your expectations before it becomes too late.