Dragon Age: Inquisition

[octavian123]

I dunno if I should be cheering or feeling sad.

On one hand Gaider was responsible for some of the worst writing in all previous DA games, including Origins, but on the other hand he was the guy responsible for some of the best writing of Inquisition.

He wrote some of the best in the previous ones too. Morrigan, Alistair and Shale are his characters.

EDIT:

A couple of months ago I said that maybe the BioWare writers are getting burnt out. Looks like I wasn't wrong

http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/4/8146637/dragon-age-writer-david-gaider-bioware

 

[PrincessCiri]

Gaider wrote almost all of my favourite characters, so I am definitely sad to see him go.

Edit: Apparently Patrick Weekes is now the lead writer. Whilst I love some of the characters he's created in the past, I really am not a fan of Iron Bull, and he created that monster .__. But he also wrote Cole and Solas, who are great. And ofc for Mass Effect he wrote Mordin, Jack and Tali who I love. So I have hopes everything will be okay.


But also personally I think Bioware should hire me to be their next lead writer for Dragon Age.


Edit: also saw this on reddit and it made me lul

 

[HiroVoid]

It should also be kept in mind that just because someone was a good character writer doesn't mean they're a better story/overall narrative writer.

 

[PrincessCiri]

True, but I believe well-written characters are the major reason I enjoy Dragon Age games, so even with a weak plot, great characters can make the game fun. My favourite part of DA:O is talking to my companions, not wandering around the deep roads or the fade.

 

[HiroVoid]

Yeah. I was mainly thinking back to Mass Effect where Mac Walters was responsible for Wrex and I believe, some other well-liked character, but then the overall stories in the Mass Effect games after the first were pretty bad.

 

[PrincessCiri]

Yeah. I was mainly thinking back to Mass Effect where Mac Walters was responsible for Wrex and I believe, some other well-liked character, but then the overall stories in the Mass Effect games after the first were pretty bad.

Oh okay. Well yeah I get where you're coming from - although I haven't finished Mass Effect 3 yet I know he was responsible for the ME3 ending that pissed everyone off, right?

For me, I am conflicted about how I feel for Mass Effect. On the one hand I didn't really enjoy the combat until ME3, but tolerated it anyway because I enjoyed the characters and the storylines, so I can't really say the writers are the issue for me, lol.
I hope for the next ME game we get something similar to the open world-ness of DA:I (having the freedom to fly off to any planet you want and explore would be really great) but with a lot more plot/sub-plot focus, otherwise I think it might end up feeling hollow like DA:I can do, sometimes.

 

[CostinRaz]

With regards to Mass Effect I feel that while the first one had the best universe building and main story it was the worst game in terms of making me care about the characters. Exception would be Wrex, Saren and Kaidan.

In Mass Effect 2 their focus, as stated directly by Walters, was to make it a character driven story. They spent a lot of time making you able to connect to these people and while there's a number of companions I couldn't give a toss about in that game ( Jack, Miranda, Jacob, Samara ). there's a lot more I found myself caring about quite greatly: Tali, Legion, Garrus, Illusive Man, Mordin, Zaeed and to a certain extent Thane and Samara. It was that along with the far superior combat and excellent music and pacing in the story that made me love that game despite all the idiocy on display.

Mass Effect 3 is ultimately mediocre. Yes it does have two amazing moments: One on Tuchanka and one on Rannoch but beyond that there's nothing really all the memorable in the game story wise, something that really stuck with me and the only really interesting character is Javik. That's not to say your other squad members are bad but just not impressive, certainly nowhere as impressive in ME3.

On a gameplay level while the mechanics of ME3 are the best in the series the actual missions are vastly inferior to ME2: There's no great pacing here, no enemy variety like in ME2 where every mercenary company fought using different tactics, there's very little of that adrenaline pumping music that was in ME2.

Ultimately you can make a great game that has a terrible main story and questionable logic in the universe if you focus on the characters. ME2 did that quite well. ME3 had a few moments but ultimately it's forgettable and ME3 has The Illusive Man being absolutely butchered as a character. That was the thing that pissed me off the most, not some bloody ending cinematic.

 

[Engagerade]

Spoiler

With regards to Mass Effect I feel that while the first one had the best universe building and main story it was the worst game in terms of making me care about the characters. Exception would be Wrex, Saren and Kaidan.

In Mass Effect 2 their focus, as stated directly by Walters, was to make it a character driven story. They spent a lot of time making you able to connect to these people and while there's a number of companions I couldn't give a toss about in that game ( Jack, Miranda, Jacob, Samara ). there's a lot more I found myself caring about quite greatly: Tali, Legion, Garrus, Illusive Man, Mordin, Zaeed and to a certain extent Thane and Samara. It was that along with the far superior combat and excellent music and pacing in the story that made me love that game despite all the idiocy on display.

Mass Effect 3 is ultimately mediocre. Yes it does have two amazing moments: One on Tuchanka and one on Rannoch but beyond that there's nothing really all the memorable in the game story wise, something that really stuck with me and the only really interesting character is Javik. That's not to say your other squad members are bad but just not impressive, certainly nowhere as impressive in ME3.

On a gameplay level while the mechanics of ME3 are the best in the series the actual missions are vastly inferior to ME2: There's no great pacing here, no enemy variety like in ME2 where every mercenary company fought using different tactics, there's very little of that adrenaline pumping music that was in ME2.

Ultimately you can make a great game that has a terrible main story and questionable logic in the universe if you focus on the characters. ME2 did that quite well. ME3 had a few moments but ultimately it's forgettable and ME3 has The Illusive Man being absolutely butchered as a character. That was the thing that pissed me off the most, not some bloody ending cinematic.

Completely agree :clap:
Auto dialogue was the main offender for me -.-

 

[KingHochmeister]

ME3 had a few moments but ultimately it's forgettable and ME3 has The Illusive Man being absolutely butchered as a character. That was the thing that pissed me off the most, not some bloody ending cinematic.

That and the fact that the last hour of Mass Effect 3 pretty much took a shit on everything the franchise stood for, I played the ME games last year and I already knew of the drama that happened because of the ME3 ending before playing the games, but after I personally played them I can understand the rage over that, even the fourth real "Mass-Effecty" ending looked like a slap to the face to the fanbase instead of an ending.

 

[octavian123]

Don't worry, Casey Hudson, the guy responsible for the ending is no longer at BioWare.

 

[KingHochmeister]

Don't worry, Casey Hudson, the guy responsible for the ending is no longer at BioWare.

And it shows, DAI had a serviceable ending that did not contradict the game itself

 

[Veleda.980]

Mass Effect 3 is ultimately mediocre. Yes it does have two amazing moments: One on Tuchanka and one on Rannoch but beyond that there's nothing really all the memorable in the game story wise, something that really stuck with me and the only really interesting character is Javik. That's not to say your other squad members are bad but just not impressive, certainly nowhere as impressive in ME3.

Patrick Weekes wrote Tuchanka and Rannoch, and he's now taking over lead writer for DA. He also wrote one of my favorite characters in ME, Mordin, and Solas is awesome so he's got a good handle on both sides I think. The thing that I'll miss about Gaider is that he was generous about explaining the lore and the writing process.

 

[PrincessCiri]

I just wish Bioware would announce a DLC already, even if it's not going to be out until the summer, I need to know whether Hawke's companions from Kirkwall or my Warden will be making an appearance in the dlc or not. I really want to see Hawke and Fenris together again.

 

[CostinRaz]

I really hope they don't do any of that story DLC nonsense at all. In every game they've done it it's felt disconnected from the main thread in a very big way.

 

[Veleda.980]

DA has not done DLC well, that's true. I suppose it's too much to hope that they take a page from Fallout New Vegas.

I can't even fire up the game to test the patch at this point. So bored of it.

 

[cyberpunkforever]

DA:I is boring as f*** , the player must complete one fetch quest after another, scavenging materials, plants, papers, shards, etc, to gain enough power points to unlock the next main mission, and the main story sucks, there are 10 main missions, really simple, easy, the main storyline is too short, I started a second playthrough and i'm in the first map, and have all this fetch quests to do again, all over again, it's too boring, Bioware must learn from CdProjektRed, how to make good rpg's, seriously, I've always been a fan of bioware's work but this it's too much. All my hopes are now in TW3 and CP2077 <3

 

[Luxorek]

Can you guys check whether your Dragon Age Keep tapestry was updated with elements from Dragon Age Inquisition? Because it is for me. I can choose some story bits, but overwhelming majority is still 'hidden'.

Upcoming beta or something?

 

[PrincessCiri]

I really hope they don't do any of that story DLC nonsense at all. In every game they've done it it's felt disconnected from the main thread in a very big way.

No!! I want a DLC set in Weisshaupt.
Although I've seen people on tumblr showing the files they've looked through and there's quite a bit of stuff on Qunari so some people speculated that might be something for the DLC.
Personally I've loved all of Dragon Age's DLCs, I always think they've been done really well. The game-breaking bugs that come with them, on the other hand, are annoying as hell.

Can you guys check whether your Dragon Age Keep tapestry was updated with elements from Dragon Age Inquisition? Because it is for me. I can choose some story bits, but overwhelming majority is still 'hidden'.

Upcoming beta or something?

Yeah I can see a bunch of stuff for Inquisition with some other stuff hidden.

 

[Veleda.980]

It's supposed to be hidden if you haven't completed that quest in the game, but it's buggy as hell. Even on my complete playthroughs, most are hidden. I wouldn't bother until they get rid of the spoiler tiles.

Something else annoying is that it shows you a character even if you created it and deleted it a minute later. So for people who restart a lot (and with that CC lighting, that's all of us I guess), you'll have dozens of zombies showing as Inquisitors.

 

[PrincessCiri]

It's supposed to be hidden if you haven't completed that quest in the game, but it's buggy as hell. Even on my complete playthroughs, most are hidden. I wouldn't bother until they get rid of the spoiler tiles.

Something else annoying is that it shows you a character even if you created it and deleted it a minute later. So for people who restart a lot (and with that CC lighting, that's all of us I guess), you'll have dozens of zombies showing as Inquisitors.

Oh that's weird... I've completed many times and yet I have almost everything hidden.... is that because I have to be online at the time or what? My internet connection at home is bad so I usually play offline. I hope that means it won't be hidden permanently or I'm going to be mad lol.

I also only have 2 Inquisitors, one of which I deleted so... why is he showing up but not my others? Omg.