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[FindMyFarms]

I gave da:i a fair shot. But after a few hours in, i just remember opening the quest map, seeing a million fetch quests, and just being so turned off. I didn't find the characters, story, or setting compelling enough to continue on. The whole time i was playing the map just felt like one big avenue for "go here and get stuff from npc x"

 

[slash3584]

Probably because as mentioned, there were fantastic games like Dragonfall, Divinity and Bayonetta 2 released the same year. But since they were not multi-platform, they apparently don't deserve recognition.

Yeah to be honest there were lots of games that could have won, but what I meant is that the hate has been kindled by the (maybe?) undeserved awards the game has gotten and this has changed a lot of people's opinion on the game itself over time, not because the game is worse than before but because of the opinion of some dudes that decided to give it an award.

What I mean is the game may not be award worthy, but in my opinion it's not the worst thing ever as some of the post in this and other threads make it to be.

 

[TatteredHat]

I still don't understand the praise for this game, by the time I got to skyhold I was bored out of my mind.

 

[Nestunt]

great game

just cant get, once again, the typical award's discrepancy where Shadow of Mordor takes most of the categories vs Inquisition but doesnt win best game

thats why awards like this will never get respect

 

[erawsd]

Why do mediocre games keep winning these awards? Do these people just not play outstanding games like Dragonfall or Divinity or so many other better games ?

Probably because as mentioned, there were fantastic games like Dragonfall, Divinity and Bayonetta 2 released the same year. But since they were not multi-platform, they apparently don't deserve recognition.

Its not because those games were overlooked. Its because the publishers of those games didnt cough up the $1000 submission fee for every category they wished to be nominated for.

 

[Melchiah]

GAF goty is all that matters.

Yep.

Are you making a direct correlation between length and quality? I'm 78 hours in and I really like it, but I wish it was over.

Well, in my case the timer showed 182 hours when I finished DA:I, and I'd never play a game that long if I didn't enjoy it. It was the 2nd on my top 10 list of last year.

Destiny being in the GOTY nominees throws it off. There were better shooters with higher review averages, available on MORE platforms.

Destiny may lack content and story, but as far as I'm concerned the gameplay mechanics made it the most enjoyable shooter of last year. Certainly better than Wolfenstein in that regard. I've stopped playing it since the changes in Dark Below DLC, but I did have fun during the 85 hours I put into it.

 

[Apenheul]

I was with the awards when Skyrim won a couple of years ago. I saw it and still see it as an opportunity for big western developers to pat themselves and each other on the back. Nothing wrong with that per se, it just doesn't carry much weight for me personally.

 

[Keasar]

Yeah to be honest there were lots of games that could have won, but what I meant is that the hate has been kindled by the (maybe?) undeserved awards the game has gotten and this has changed a lot of people's opinion on the game itself over time, not because the game is worse than before but because of the opinion of some dudes that decided to give it an award.

What I mean is the game may not be award worthy, but in my opinion it's not the worst thing ever as some of the post in this and other threads make it to be.

Worst thing definetly not, it was still a good game (I stuck around it for 80 hours to get as much of the story and characters as possible) but I think there is a lot to critiscize that brings it down a big couple of notches from "the best thing released this year in gaming".

 

[Ushay]

Well deserved. I sunk a lot of hours into the game, despite the shortcomings it could have been even better. Makes me hopeful for the sequel and Mass Effect.

 

[smudge]

I honestly didn't enjoy DA:I at all. I am a big fan of the DA:Origins and other previous Bioware RPGs but Inquisition was very lacklustre in my opinion. The MMO style quests deprived the game of atmosphere for me. I eventually stopped playing it after around 12 hours as all the areas seemed full of the same generic quests. Which made for boring repetitive gameplay.

 

[Zareka]

I mean, the game isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it blows my mind that it's winning all these GOTY awards. Was 2014 really that weak there was nothing better?

Congrats to Bioware, I guess. It just worries me that this'll be the direction all future Dragon Age games take.

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

ehhh, I wasn't crazy for it.

Honestly, I didn't like it at all. Dull overworlds filled with fetch questy missions, forced waiting to progress the nothing story.

I really wasn't a fan of it.

This was the first time I played a Dragon Age game and I got to say I wasn't too impressed either. Especially with what you have pointed out and also the characters. The characters in Mass Effect that were freaking Aliens I felt more for and had, well more 'character' too them that what I played in Inquisition. The only ones I found bearable was the Bull, Blackwall and Dorian. The rest of the cast I absolutely hated. And a big part of Bioware games are the characters. I've just recently completed it and put around 50 hours in. Mainly due to my obsessions with clearing sidequests. I enjoyed a few story missions though. But GOTY it is not imho.

 

[dex3108]

This award lost any meaning for me today because apparently nomination submission costs 1000$ per title and per category.

 

[Chaos17]

.

 

[gogosox82]

No nominations for Bayonetta 2, or Divinity: OS? Really think these should at least be mentioned when talking about GOTY.

 

[Melchiah]

I honestly didn't enjoy DA:I at all. I am a big fan of the DA:Origins and other previous Bioware RPGs but Inquisition was very lacklustre in my opinion. The MMO style quests deprived the game of atmosphere for me. I eventually stopped playing it after around 12 hours as all the areas seemed full of the same generic quests. Which made for boring repetitive gameplay.

Did you even manage to open all the areas, and do Opposition in All Things and In Your Heart Shall Burn quests, within 12 hours?

 

[dex3108]

No nominations for Bayonetta 2, or Divinity: OS? Really think these should at least be mentioned when talking about GOTY.

I don't think that Larian Studios wanted to spend 1000$ for award. That is why DICE awards are really sad.

 

[Ennosuke]

I gave da:i a fair shot. But after a few hours in, i just remember opening the quest map, seeing a million fetch quests, and just being so turned off. I didn't find the characters, story, or setting compelling enough to continue on. The whole time i was playing the map just felt like one big avenue for "go here and get stuff from npc x"

Damn, this is exactly what I have been thinking after playing 2 hours long.

 

[Punished_Snake]

Yes, the game with the most boring side quests in recent memory won GOTY. Well deserved.

 

[hooijdonk17]

I gave da:i a fair shot. But after a few hours in, i just remember opening the quest map, seeing a million fetch quests, and just being so turned off. I didn't find the characters, story, or setting compelling enough to continue on. The whole time i was playing the map just felt like one big avenue for "go here and get stuff from npc x"

Dragon Age: Fedex

 

[TrouzzzerSnake]

Non-stop fetch quests. MMO combat in a single player game. Technically extremely unimpressive (juddery cut-scenes, horrifying draw of NPCs), characters that are downright awful (show me one more orlesian with that stupid over-played accent and a masquerade mask and I'll fire-bomb that studio).

GOTY!? Peer-voted GOTY!?

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh this has to be an omen for the end of days, because that's terrifying.


*Edited for hyperbole

 

[smudge]

Did you even manage to open all the areas, and do Opposition in All Things and In Your Heart Shall Burn quests, within 12 hours?

I unlocked 2 additional areas after the hinterlands and the quests there were exactly the same as the hinterlands. There was very little variety in any quest. It all seemed very influenced by MMO style quests.
If I am not compelled to carry on play a huge RPG after 12 hours then there is something wrong with the game, as this is my favourite genre. I put 80+ hours into Origins, I even finished DA2.
Inquisition lacked any depth for me, I found it boring and repetitive.

 

[Cheech]

No nominations for Bayonetta 2, or Divinity: OS? Really think these should at least be mentioned when talking about GOTY.

It's a peer voted award, so I assume the noms are as well. It's about what the industry and developers feel is the most deserving, not the consumers.

That said, nobody can argue that Dragon Age is a very well crafted experience. Very nice art, great soundtrack, and compelling from a story standpoint.

It is depressing the amount of hate the game gets here simply because "EA" is stamped on the box. The game, unlike DA2, bleeds classic Bioware.

 

[smudge]

It's a peer voted award, so I assume the noms are as well. It's about what the industry and developers feel is the most deserving, not the consumers.

That said, nobody can argue that Dragon Age is a very well crafted experience. Very nice art, great soundtrack, and compelling from a story standpoint.

It is depressing the amount of hate the game gets here simply because "EA" is stamped on the box. The game, unlike DA2, bleeds classic Bioware.

It doesn't get hate "simply because EA is stamped on the box"
It gets hate because they delivered a wonderfully crafted world full of boring grindy repetitive quests.

 

[TheJoRu]

Was 2014 really that weak there was nothing better?

There was better, but one cannot simply let a Nintendo game win (or get nominated for that matter, when it comes to the D.I.C.E. Awards).

 

[Ayt]

It's a peer voted award, so I assume the noms are as well. It's about what the industry and developers feel is the most deserving, not the consumers.

That said, nobody can argue that Dragon Age is a very well crafted experience. Very nice art, great soundtrack, and compelling from a story standpoint.

It is depressing the amount of hate the game gets here simply because "EA" is stamped on the box. The game, unlike DA2, bleeds classic Bioware.

Combat and quests are a huge portion of the game and those aspects were not well done.

 

[Cheech]

It doesn't get hate "simply because EA is stamped on the box"
It gets hate because they delivered a wonderfully crafted world full of boring grindy repetitive quests.

...most of which are optional. I probably left about a quarter of them unplayed, because I'm not a completionist and moved through it at my own pace. I finished the thing in about 65 hours, and felt very satisfied. It's my EASY GOTY, and looking at what most of the industry picked (not just this specific award), I'm with the majority, which doesn't often happen.

I do agree that Bayo 2 would have gotten more credibility if it had released on a system that people actually own. It's tough for people to play your game when nobody has the required system. There are big gaming websites that don't really take the Wii U seriously, so really, not a shock that random game dev X isn't going to bother for the purposes for some ultimately meaningless GOTY vote.

Combat and quests are a huge portion of the game and those aspects were not well done.

Disagree. The combat, for an action RPG, was very well done. I love the Bethesda RPGs, but they could learn something from Bioware. I'm a big fan of the optional turn based mechanic, at any rate. Let me blow through enemies when I'm not having problems to speed things along, let me slow it down and pace it out when I'm at a tougher encounter.

The quests were not as good as the very best RPGs, but very serviceable and entertaining. The story helped a lot with this IMO.

 

[RulkezX]

Combat and quests are a huge portion of the game and those aspects were not well done.

I like the combat and the quests ( the busywork quests are easily avoided)

DA:I is a fantastic game, sure it's not a throwback to the late 90's/ early 00's like the GAF fotm's, but it doesn't need to be.

 

[Can Crusher]

Boring ass game with mediocre everything. Incomprehensible how this game got this kind of traction, damn thing feels like work.

 

[iNvid02]

not a bad choice at all, more accurate than gaf's goty voting for sure

 

[Xpliskin]

I know dice summit, but what the hell is a dice award. Is it like the GDC awards ?

 

[17 Seconds]

Or nominated yet Destiny was. How?

Because Destiny is wayyyyyy more popular than those games, and this is all opinion based?

It's weird about how many people are still in denial about how popular Destiny is just because they didn't like it.

 

[Denton]

Good god.

Good god what ?

Its not because those games were overlooked. Its because the publishers of those games didnt cough up the $1000 submission fee for every category they wished to be nominated for.

That explains it :/

 

[17 Seconds]

Why do mediocre games keep winning these awards? Do these people just not play outstanding games like Dragonfall or Divinity or so many other better games ?

It's almost as if it's a matter of taste or something.

 

[Laconic]

By what metric?

 

[Kusagari]

The praise this game gets is baffling when it's so inferior to Origins.

But i guess it's no surprise this is the trash the media wants from the RPG genre.

 

[Freeman]

Nintendo fans are just pathetic, is this how they react every time their game doesn't win?

Dragon Age has many flaws but it also does plenty to make up for it. Funny how similar things, weren't a deal breaker for Xenoblade.
To me it was either DS2 or DA:I.

 

[Laconic]

It's almost as if it's a matter of taste or something.

I'd say "or something".

 

[mnz]

It's a peer voted award, so I assume the noms are as well. It's about what the industry and developers feel is the most deserving, not the consumers.

That said, nobody can argue that Dragon Age is a very well crafted experience. Very nice art, great soundtrack, and compelling from a story standpoint.

It is depressing the amount of hate the game gets here simply because "EA" is stamped on the box. The game, unlike DA2, bleeds classic Bioware.

I disagree with both points. The reaction the game gets is totally deserved and doesn't have much to do with EA, unless you count "Bioware is different now" as EA's fault.

Classic Bioware was never like this. They made pretty straight forward games in the past with a well structured narrative and way less filler. All of that is missing in DA:I.

 

[Carlius]

nice, well deserved

lol

 

[nib95]

I disagree with both points. The reaction the game gets is totally deserved and doesn't have much to do with EA, unless you count "Bioware is different now" as EA's fault.

Classic Bioware was never like this. They made pretty straight forward games in the past with a well structured narrative and way less filler. All of that is missing in DA:I.

What is unstructured about the narrative in DAI compared to other Bioware games, and what does it matter of there's tonnes of filler if the vast majority of it is optional?

 

[thuGG_pl]

The Oscars of gaming? Lmao. Who thinks these awards are relevant?

It would be relevant if chosen games were really worthy. DA:I is just average, nice world and graphics, but dead and emtpy + fetch quests.

 

[Facism]

it wasn't even the best "RPG" of the year. Nonsense.

 

[Eidan]

I'm struggling to think of the last time GAF seemed to universally praise a AAA RPG release.

 

[mnz]

What is unstructured about the narrative in DAI compared to other Bioware games, and what does it matter of there's tonnes of filler if the vast majority of it is optional?

I don't get this "optional" argument. Sure, if you know how the game is structured and what ressources you will need and what its payoffs are before you do all of them, then you can make it a good experience for yourself. But you only know that after you've beaten the game. And by then you've probably done way more than you ever wished you did.

It's like someone saying Dark Souls 2 is a 6 hour game, because that's how long it takes after my 5th playthrough.

 

[RadarScope1]

Folks, DICE is for gaming executives. The suits. It's not that valid of an award. The Game Developers Choice Awards at GDC would be a better pick for the "Oscars" of gaming.

 

[nib95]

I don't get this "optional" argument. Sure, if you know how the game is structured and what ressources you will need and what its payoffs are before you do all of them, then you can make it a good experience for yourself. But you only know that after you've beaten the game. And by then you've probably done way more than you ever wished you did.

It's like someone saying Dark Souls 2 is a 6 hour game, because that's how long it takes after my 5th playthrough.

I don't get this argument at all. The game is pretty easy all things considered, to the point where doing lots of the random optional side quests is really not necessary unless you're a completionist type and like to be over powered. Otherwise you really risk little by not doing most of them.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I just don't get it.

.

 

[mnz]

I don't get this argument at all. The game is pretty easy all things considered, to the point where doing lots of the random optional side quests is really not necessary unless you're a completionist type and like to be over powered. Otherwise you really risk little by not doing most of them.

You don't know that while playing it. That's what I just said.

The payoff for collecting all the shards for example, is a complete joke. Why would you ever know that while doing it? Excuse me for doing one of your game-spanning quests, I should have known it's completely useless before I did it!

 

[nib95]

You don't know that while playing it. That's what I just said.

Well, you do, because if you're not dying and the game is still easy, you already know that no more grinding or additional side quests are necessary for you to progress, unless the game otherwise says so. Like with most other RPG's, you can do the side stuff if and when you need, dependant on the difficulty curve, that is the only indicator one really needs, otherwise you do them because you want to do them.