[Maark Abbott]

Ceda Cicero, on 12 March 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

Finished this game last week after a completionist playthrough that took me foreeeeeever (and even then I gave up on the damn mosaic pieces.)

My takeaways are pretty much the same as many I've seen elsewhere online.

-Endgame was far too easy, even on nightmare. After ~lvl 14 as the Knight Enchanter, most all of the content was trivialized in terms of difficulty. Didn't ruin the game for me, but definitely changed my attitude towards it. I know this is a particular truth for the knight enchanter class, but I've read similar reports on other classes too.

-

Spoiler

Corypheus

had so much potential as a villain, especially considering how he fits into the broader mythology of Thedas, but they only ever actualized maybe a fraction of that potential and gave him a few too many cheesed up lines. This wasn't helped by (as to point 1) the fact that the final showdown with him was a cakewalk.

-The number of choices you're making throughout the game relative to the actual impact of those choices on the overall story arc and ultimately the ending is pretty sparse, IMO.

-Romancing Josephine is a snoozefest. I guess part of me likes the appeal of a storybook romance that doesn't involve sex or high, high drama and is overall pretty PG. A part of me also wants to see bewbs.

Boobs, eh? Roll a female Qunari, romance Sera and have her sate a demand of your Qun. Job done.

[Traveller]

The endgame was ridiculously short; I didn't die once and it was all over in about 15 minutes!

I'm glad I didn't spend any more time hunting round for upgrades and armour that I just didn't need.

I couldn't be doing with any of the romance in this game - the only ones possible to romance really had nothing going for them. I couldn't even bear talking to Sera, and Cassandra.. well, just no.

At least there was a brothel in Origins!

I've enjoyed playing it; I much prefer the exploring than any other aspect though. I could really just do without the story entirely, I always feel obliged to see it through but it's not what I get out of a game.

Developers seem to feel they have to add in all these pointless collectables now, just to lengthen the game, but really, I can't see myself going back to collect a bunch of mosaic pieces and shards that ultimately weren't that important.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 22 March 2015 - 10:00 PM

[Gothos]

OK so looking at the overwhelmingly good reception of this game, even in hindsight when usually people find some flaws they originally didn't mind, I bought the game. It's installing, which will take a Hood damned long time on this silly little connection, but I'm determined to check out what the fuss is about.

Also, it may have been also caused by the ability to choose Qunari as your race.

[Avatar]

Enjoy Gothos! I loved it, most of the flaws are gone by now I think, didn't encounter much bugs. Just the tactical camera, that one is shitty. If you liked other bioware games before this one, chances are that you will enjoy DAI.

[Gothos]

OK, MAJOR GRIPE before I even get started: fucking EA LOCALIZATION BULLSHIT. The only language versions I get is...... polish and russian. What the SHIT? I can't even install the english version of the game from Origin. I can download the english voiceover pack but THAT'S NOT THE POINT. I want the "right" ability names, flavour texts, item names, lore books and all the goddamn rest so I can actually discuss the game later with people WITHOUT HAVING TO GUESS WHAT STUFF IS CALLED.

I haven't been learning english for 80% of my life to be FORCED into a localized game, bundled with goddamn RUSSIANS on top of that, which adds insult to injury. They better refund my game and let me buy the EN version for the same money, or God help me I refuse to play this game.

[Aptorian]

I am not certain if this is the case with DA:I but normally, when installing a digital copy of an EA game, you have to select a language choice before the installation begins. Depending upon your choice, the launcher will install the game version that fits with your language selection.

Are you sure you chose an english language when you began the installation or is it completely missing?

This post has been edited by Apt: 08 May 2015 - 06:56 AM

[Gothos]

Apt, on 08 May 2015 - 06:53 AM, said:

I am not certain if this is the case with DA:I but normally, when installing a digital copy of an EA game, you have to select a language choice before the installation begins. Depending upon your choice, the launcher will install the game version that fits with your language selection.

Are you sure you chose an english language when you began the installation or is it completely missing?

There are two installation options: polish and russian. That's it. Doesn't matter if Origin itself is running in polish or english (which has made a difference for me in the past).

When I get home I'll try renaming the PL text files and repairing installation with an english Origin running. Maybe that will help.

Still. WHY? It's not the first time either - to run Mass Effect 2 in english I had to edit some game files to read "en" instead of "pl" in a couple of places... with no language selection in the game or installer at all. With Mass Effect 1, the language version depends sneakily on what language Origin is running.
WHY does EA do this? Even goddamn Ubisoft gives you more choices.

[Aptorian]

The obvious answer would be to prevent the purchase of or reselling of eastern block games in the West. Nobody wants to play a game in a language they can't understand.

This policy is only going to become more prominent with the proliferation of grey market key vendors. Just look at the recent Greenman Gaming vs CD Project debacle.

[Cause]

I plan to start this game soon. I like mages (I normally see that as more complex engaging options) and I love the sound of the knight enchanter class. Now truth is I know very little about the game, I have avoided most details and spoilers. I have heard that the knight enchanter is easy cake mode though. Is this still true? Should I avoid this class.

[Gothos]

Apt, on 08 May 2015 - 09:17 AM, said:

The obvious answer would be to prevent the purchase of or reselling of eastern block games in the West. Nobody wants to play a game in a language they can't understand.

This policy is only going to become more prominent with the proliferation of grey market key vendors. Just look at the recent Greenman Gaming vs CD Project debacle.

Yes but that's not a reason to not even let people in the eastern market purchase the english version for the full price. For me not being able to play in english is gamebreaking. I'm getting a refund now for my game.

I'll see if I can get an english version key from some 3rd party site (and if it will actually work). Otherwise I'll just leave this game unplayed and move on.

[Aptorian]

Gothos, on 08 May 2015 - 09:34 AM, said:

Yes but that's not a reason to not even let people in the eastern market purchase the english version for the full price. For me not being able to play in english is gamebreaking. I'm getting a refund now for my game.

I'll see if I can get an english version key from some 3rd party site (and if it will actually work). Otherwise I'll just leave this game unplayed and move on.

Would a VPN work? It's like 5 euro for a month.

[Gothos]

From what I read, there's people who used VPN to purchase and preload and the game still was localized (german voice / english text in this instance). Origin seems to get the version from the product key, not your localization - it's just the buying options are somehow tied to your location, and... VPN does a bad job at fooling Origin the program.

Still, why the feathers would I be forced to pay for and fiddle with a VPN to get access to MORE EXPENSIVE versions of the game?! Not giving us the OPTION to buy the english release at western prices is the real kick in the teeth here.

This is the worst, worst market practice I've seen so far from distributors, and that's counting Day 1 DLC. The only worse thing is what Zenimax pulled off with ESO CE.


Edit:
PS. Take into account that versions in countries like Mexico, Peru and Brazil are about the same price, yet include ALL language versions, and are region-unlocked. Hate this "special treatment" like with Skyrim's availability through Steam.

This post has been edited by Gothos: 08 May 2015 - 11:06 AM

[Maark Abbott]

Cause, on 08 May 2015 - 09:26 AM, said:

I plan to start this game soon. I like mages (I normally see that as more complex engaging options) and I love the sound of the knight enchanter class. Now truth is I know very little about the game, I have avoided most details and spoilers. I have heard that the knight enchanter is easy cake mode though. Is this still true? Should I avoid this class.

It's pretty easy. Sort of a mage tank. You don't have healing spells in this game, by and large - you have health, shields and armour. Shields are cast by mages, armour is generated by warrior talents (usually for the warrior only) and rogues are squishyasfck. KE get stronger shields, a healing spell 'ultra', and their own shields last longer the more damage they do. They can also melee effectively.

[Gothos]

After some adventures, I do have the english game by now and started out. Only got like 3 hours of gameplay in so far, and I must say I am very well pleased. The quests and tasks feel organic (even if they are scripted), the combat is acceptable, but the game is simply HUGE. After all that time I did maybe... half of Hinterlands? Haven't gone back to Haven yet at all - I've got a mission now to go to Val Royeaux (reqs 4 power - I have.... 25) and I wonder if I should do that only after I clear the Hinterlands or before?

Playing Qunari 2-handed Warrior. Going to romance Cassandra. Think I'll take Templar as spec.

[Imperial Historian]

Do it before, the hinterlands are huge and not really meant to be cleared straight away, it's designed to be a place you can dip in and out of throughout the early part of the game. If you complete the hinterlands and continue the main quest you'll more than likely be overlevelled. Most missions have a level guideline as an idea of what level you should be when you start them. It is fairly easy to overlevel yourself if you are a completionist.

[Gothos]

I'm not seeing any level guidelines for areas, though they are present for missions.

Boy, this game is awesome. I just finished the templar recruitment mission. Was supposed to be just another 10 minutes 3 hours ago. Dammit.

I'm starting to wonder if there will be serious companion conflicts. In any case, it doesn't seem like I'm doing a good job at romancing Cassandra, we're just too far apart on stuff! Maybe I'll just roll with The Iron Bull instead

[Maark Abbott]

The first VR mission doesn't need any real level as it serves more to branch into companion recruitment. The next major mission is the one you've just done which I'd recommend for anyone else being about level eight for. The mage one was harder by a long way - but then again, Alexei (I think?) is a teleporting mage boss and they're a nightmare for melee rogues in any game.

[Ceda Cicero]

Cause, on 08 May 2015 - 09:26 AM, said:

I plan to start this game soon. I like mages (I normally see that as more complex engaging options) and I love the sound of the knight enchanter class. Now truth is I know very little about the game, I have avoided most details and spoilers. I have heard that the knight enchanter is easy cake mode though. Is this still true? Should I avoid this class.

In my experience, playing Knight Enchanter utterly trivialized each and every encounter past level 13-14. Don't get me wrong, it was thrilling for a while, especially the first couple of times out soloing dragons, but it definitely got old and (for me at least) meant that I wrapped up what was meant to be a completionist playthrough pretty hastily because I was losing interest fast.

I guess it's possible to go the Knight Enchanter route and not OP yourself, but that would essentially mean playing the class wrong, because what makes it so insanely powerful is it's basic principle: the Knight Enchanter gets pretty much unlimited barrier as long as it's dealing damage, and there are so many skills that synergize to amp up the damage and keep up a permabarrier that you could honestly just pick skills at random as you level and you'd stand a really solid chance of still ending up with a build that's synergistic and verging on unkillable. Once you max out your damage output (the best build I've found for this is to dig deep into the fire tree) you're invulnerable for all intents and purposes.

This post has been edited by Ceda Cicero: 12 May 2015 - 12:45 PM

[MTS]

Ceda Cicero, on 12 May 2015 - 12:39 PM, said:

Cause, on 08 May 2015 - 09:26 AM, said:

I plan to start this game soon. I like mages (I normally see that as more complex engaging options) and I love the sound of the knight enchanter class. Now truth is I know very little about the game, I have avoided most details and spoilers. I have heard that the knight enchanter is easy cake mode though. Is this still true? Should I avoid this class.

In my experience, playing Knight Enchanter utterly trivialized each and every encounter past level 13-14. Don't get me wrong, it was thrilling for a while, especially the first couple of times out soloing dragons, but it definitely got old and (for me at least) meant that I wrapped up what was meant to be a completionist playthrough pretty hastily because I was losing interest fast.

I guess it's possible to go the Knight Enchanter route and not OP yourself, but that would essentially mean playing the class wrong, because what makes it so insanely powerful is it's basic principle: the Knight Enchanter gets pretty much unlimited barrier as long as it's dealing damage, and there are so many skills that synergize to amp up the damage and keep up a permabarrier that you could honestly just pick skills at random as you level and you'd stand a really solid chance of still ending up with a build that's synergistic and verging on unkillable. Once you max out your damage output (the best build I've found for this is to dig deep into the fire tree) you're invulnerable for all intents and purposes.

I managed to get up to Level 23 with the KE class equipped with most of the Fire tree, and even Nightmare was fairly trivial. I haven't even finished the game because it was so boring and challengeless that I just left it for greener pastures (a.k.a. Pillars of Eternity).

My advice? Go the Archer class. It's boring initially, what with low damage output and being squishy as hell, but once you get some skills up and hit your specialisation, it becomes much more interesting. This is largely because you need to actually think about what you're doing, rather than just mash Spirit Blade and pause to throw some other spells around. There is the potential to trivialise the game though as an Artificer with looping your flasks together to get instant cooldowns, but it's easy to avoid.

[Traveller]

I played the whole game as an archer, and had no trouble at all with any of it.

Evade means never having to get up close, and the combination of the power shot and the flanking bonus, and bonus from stealth, means you can single shot enemies as soon as they pop up. I went assassin build, which initially seemed a bit weird as I wasn't using blades, but once you get Death Mark it's totally worth it.

I just powered up Cassandra and Blackwall, those guys can take anyone.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 12 May 2015 - 02:36 PM