Hmm. In my book, the Witcher games rival or supercede any Bioware game in characters with great, defined psychologies and motivations, but I get what you mean. The Witcher games are mostly a ships passing each other in the night kind of deal, while Bioware always give you an extended crew to hang out with, who bounce off each other and you can have a very definite impact on their stories, and there’s just not many developers working in that mode of RPG. Hell, Bioware basically invented it with Baldur’s Gate 2.
Basically, you’ve Bioware, Obsidian, and Larian moving towards that realm with Divinity Original Sin 2. Also inferior knockoffs like Spiders*.
So if I were to list games I like more than Inquisition working in that mode:
Pillars of Eternity 2 - it’s early days, but the evolving opinions of companions depending on what side of each other they get exposed to feels like a genuine next step in this sort of game. And if the first game got a port, this one should too.
Mass effect 1-3
Baldur’s Gate 2
Planescape: Torment
Dragon Age Origins
Knights of The Old Republic 1 & 2
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Neverwinter Nights 2 + Mask of the Betrayer
Torment: Tides of Numenera
And yeah, there’s a good chunk of PC only stuff there, because the PC and Black Isle is where this particular mode of RPG was born. Knights of the Old Republic was where it was first successfully brought to consoles.
*Indefensible opinion confession time: I think I like The Technomancer more than Mass Effect: Andromeda. Even if it’s trash, it’s more succinct and the bee-faced gorilla thing is more imaginative and alien than anything ecountered in Andromeda.
I have actually played a couple of hours of DA: Origins, last year. And even though I’m sure it’s great and all, it’s just way too old for me to enjoy now, in terms of graphics and all. I checked out Pillars of Eternity now (for PS4) and I think the same would go for that unfortunately.
I just hope something more like this comes along soon, (and that Divinity: Original Sin 2 releases for PS4 soon), cause this is truly the kinds of games I’m missing atm.
Wait… what’s this? Never heard of it, but I’m definitely intrigued.
Started playing 26 days ago and today I finished last DLC, Trespasser. Trespasser was better than most of the main game since it was well paced and lacked any stupid fetch quests (well apart from one unmarked literal fetch quest to give some bones to a dog). Trespasser is a great ending and eventhough the game is flawed as hell, I am glad I finally played it. I am gonna spend next few days listening to its soundtrack :)
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.
