My copy should arrive sometime today, but my readiness is in question. Hopefully I'll have a chance to get started with it this weekend.
What platform you using? If you have any issues with mouse or keyboard input try turning off the Origin overlay. I was stuck at the start screen for about 30 minutes before I got that problem figured out. I've only played for 2 hours but so far I'm liking it. Combat is a bit complicated but that's a good thing. It will take me a few more battles before I master it. So far it doesn't feel like a console port and that's nice. Graphics are optimized well and the frame rates are extremely steady. No dips or spikes. Faces look great but hair looks kind of stupid. I went with a shaved head.
PS4 version for me. I plan on looking up some overviews of the story/world from the first two games prior to playing so that I have at least a general grasp of what's going on. Not going to worry too much about the minute details of the "lore" though. I can always look that up later if I'm stumped about something. Did you go with a wizard/mage style character?
I went through these lore videos. They're pretty well done and it takes about an hour to watch all of them.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwsL5uSMbwM&list=PL7pGJQV-jlzAYFb3DMtimVGD3kT1HEVIH I did do the mage but I was tempted to try another class. Mages don't have a healing ability anymore so they aren't as critical as they used to be. I'll have to play more before I'll know if there is any tactical difference between the mage and ranged rogue.
So is there much of a difference between Elves/Humans when it comes to magical ability? They do seem to put a fair amount of emphasis on magic in the lore videos, and Inquisition is centered around something to do with the Fade and it's magic connection. It seemed like they were implying in the videos that Elves might be more difficult (or weaker) for magic due to having lost some of their knowledge of it, but maybe that's not the case.
An elf get 25% ranged defense bonus and a human gets one extra skill point in the beginning. Aside from those two minimal skill differences there are story differences. Did you play the first two? City elves are second class citizens living in slums acting as slaves and prostitutes. It's kind of an odd twist from the traditional image of them. They lost their immortality and knowledge and now suffer to the humans. If you play an elf, or anything but human, don't expect the story to end with you being a king or anyone important in the human world. Most humans fear magic so human mages tend to be controlled and persecuted by the Templar. Human mages that aren't deemed worthy are lobotomized and those that don't submit are killed. Elves respect magic and their mages tend to be revered by other elves and left a lone by humans. Magic comes from the fade which is the world of demons and that's why people don't trust it. The only type of magic considered totally evil is blood magic and blood mages are usually hunted and killed by everyone including other mages. Although blood magic is considered evil it doesn't mean a mage that uses it is evil and it's been a playable option in the past. At the end of the last game the whole Templar mage arrangement went to hell and the Templar started slaughtering every mage they could find. The mages fought back, a war began, and this game picks up shortly after that with both sides seeking a truce.
So if you went with the blood mage route as an Elf, you'd be forfeiting the advantage of the Templar not paying as much attention to you? Or would that just mean other Elves would oppose you?
Well, it's hard to say what this game will do exactly. So far the Templar wont work with my human mage so those mission options are not available to me. I also get a lot of negativity from NPCs and that will probably affect my ability to get information. I'm sure being an elf or maybe even human will have it's own mission complications. From what I've read online the blood mage option will not be in this game.
Hmm, good to know. I seem to be leaning towards going with the Elven mage at this point, but maybe I'll change my mind once I see all the options. My PS4 copy of the game arrived with the disc not even attached to the interior of the case. It was just sliding around inside…hopefully it's not scratched/damaged from shipping.
Bummer. I know return policies on disks are pretty bad. I just read that there are 40 major endings to this game so obviously race and class will be a major factor throughout. One other feature that wasn't mentioned much is that in the very beginning you can actually go to website to create and import the history you experienced in the previous games. I didn't bother because I didn't really remember how the last game ended for me. I just saw that they have 89 different voice actors listed on IMDb. That's pretty impressive.
Whew...my copy seems to have installed properly, so the loose disc may not be an issue. Installing the update/patch or whatever it is right now.
I played a tiny bit of this one yesterday (opening sequence where you're closing some of the rifts) and can see that it's a bit more like Baldur's Gate with the option to do tactical placement and attacks with your group. I really wish it came with a printed manual though for quick reference. I'm not really liking the new trend of digital-only manuals that force you to use an even larger amount of paper by printing it out on single sided 8.5 x 11 sheets.
I can't remember the last time I got a paper manual. Normally I don't care but the old fashion paper manuals would be nice for more complex RPG and RT RPG games. Amazon has the Prima guide for $15. I thought about getting it but the reviews aren't encouraging.
After whining about it, I found the digital version of the PS4 manual online and it's really basic. I was thinking it might have more info for using the tactics feature, but NOPE. A decent game guide might be a good idea. EDIT: decided to get the Prima guide since the complaints weren't specifically about things I was wanting more info about.
Game manuals are a relic of a bygone age. I remember the first time I was excited about a new game. We just got Sonic 2 and I read the manual from cover to cover. Well, the English parts anyway. Contained within was a brief origin story for this new character called Tails, and I loved reading that stuff. They also detailed all the badniks if I recall. Moving onto the PS1 and PS2. I would buy a game and on the bus home I'd gather all the information I could about the game before getting home and playing it. These days all kids get is a code to access some "exclusive content" that every single other person who plays that game has access to, as long as they take the time out to enter a damn code. A season pass advert is usually contained within too. And that's it. If there is a manual it's almost always nothing more than a diagram of the controller and the names for buttons, not the controls for the game, just the names of the buttons. And people say kids today are lucky. Pffft.
Older Blizzard games like Starcraft and Warcraft 2 always had nice manuals. Really good artwork and storytelling.
Prima guide arrived today (a day early...not too shabby), and it's not looking that bad, especially for a Dragon Age noob like myself. Seems to have some good info on building different character classes and their various specialization trees. For example, they don't really recommend trying to have a jack-of-all-trades Mage (which is a tendency that I have with these types of games), but rather to commit to a particular specialty in order to avoid missing out on the most powerful abilities (Necromancer is looking good). Makes sense considering that you can switch your control to any party member in this game. You don't have to worry about missing out on playing as a particular character type, so trying to create a balanced character for that reason is effectively pointless.
I'd agree with that. I build each party member into two specialties and try to compliment them with other members. My mage went hard core spirit and cold which are mostly protection and support classes. It's hard to say if it was a good choice or not. I'm not putting out much damage yet but I believe there are some special inquisitor powers later on that will help with the damage output. I have an electric mage on the team and he can dish some impressive damage. I kind of felt the first 10 hours of the game were a little dull and aimless Things are starting to get more exciting now which is great.