KillerMan91
Member
Maybe on consoles. On PC it has worst combat of the series.
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How Bad Are Dragon Age: Inquisition's MMO-esque Fetch Quests?
- Thread starter OricWindstar
- Start date
Maybe on consoles. On PC it has worst combat of the series.
Really surprised by a lot of the responses here.
First, they ARE optional. Anyone saying otherwise is just hating.
You'll have to do a few but you can close rifts to get power and a few of the less fetchy quests.
Second, a lot of them are fun! Yes there are fetch quests, but a lot of them have cool little storylines and aren't tiring to do.
And the areas in this game are so fucking gorgeous that you'll probably want to explore every nook and cranny which will clear the quests you need.
All that being said, I hate the shard collecting quests which I avoid for the most part.
First, they ARE optional. Anyone saying otherwise is just hating.
You'll have to do a few but you can close rifts to get power and a few of the less fetchy quests.
Second, a lot of them are fun! Yes there are fetch quests, but a lot of them have cool little storylines and aren't tiring to do.
And the areas in this game are so fucking gorgeous that you'll probably want to explore every nook and cranny which will clear the quests you need.
All that being said, I hate the shard collecting quests which I avoid for the most part.
Freezasaurus
Member
They're pretty much there as a means to build up Power to spend on storyline quests. That's all. My complaint with a lot of them is that once you complete the objective, you just get a "Quest Completed" notification and that's the end of it. No follow-up or anything. I think they should have tossed out a lot of those and included more story quests, because the ones that are there are pretty great.
You'll get tired of the game way before the 90-hour mark. I was halfway through my second playthrough by then. But don't let the tedious filler quests dissuade you from picking up the game. It's easily one of the best games of the year.
You'll get tired of the game way before the 90-hour mark. I was halfway through my second playthrough by then. But don't let the tedious filler quests dissuade you from picking up the game. It's easily one of the best games of the year.
BattleMonkey
Member
Your not forced to do them, they are mostly all optional side content.
Neato_Jinkins
Banned
bad enough that i deleted the game and reinstalled DA:O to remind myself that the series wasn't always shit
The story is great, easily the best Dragon Age cast of characters. There is also a ton of character interaction at Skyhold.
I think if you are good about balancing the content to your preference you'll be fine. Inquisition gives you the freedom to just explore and do side stuff for hours if you want to. I didn't particularly want to, so I'd go do some exploration and combat for awhile, then go back and talk to my people, maybe get a character quest or two, go back out and do a zone, then do a story quest, then more exploration, more character stuff, etc.
There's also plenty of content that nets you Power that doesn't include killing 10 goats for their skin. Closing Rifts, taking Keeps, setting up camps, recruiting Agents, etc all give you Power. And there are a bunch of neat medium-sized dungeons you can discover while exploring.
You can also simply buy Power from a merchant in Skyhold that you unlock by doing a War Table quest.
I'm playing it on PC ¯\_(ツ
_/¯I played DA1 and DA2 both weeks before DA:I comes out. I prefer DA:I combat by far.
I enjoyed most of them. They take you around to a lot of different spots so if you love exploring, you'll be able to do most of them just by wandering around. The fast travel system is also quite forgiving. Many of the quests do have a minor effect on the world as well, so that made them feel more worthwhile to me.
They aren't optional. Stop spreading this garbage.
you HAVE to do them in order to progress in the story by gaining power.
Are you telling me with a straight face DA2 has better combat?
I suspect the "collect 10 ram meats" quest exists so that people learn that rams (and by extension, other random wildlife) drop crafting materials. Still a really rubbish quest, of course - and a really annoying way to collect crafting materials, too.
Schweinehund
Member
For the amount you're required to do for power you probably won't get bored of it.
It's just annoying if you're a completionist.
It's just annoying if you're a completionist.
Haha..I wish I had known about that before hand. I'm still in the Hitherlands after 20 hours, still running around doing random shit. I haven't been burned out yet, but I should force myself to move on.
KillerMan91
Member
I'm playing it on PC ¯\_(ツ
You really prefer the combat and tactical camera to origins? Well I guess everyone has their own tastes. I just really don't see how. Has been losing my shit with the camera several times.
KiefbladeMaster
Member
As long as you are closing rifts and establishing camps, you don't really need to touch anything else besides the main quests. Anyone who says otherwise spent a little too much time wandering around The Hinterlands thinking they had to 100%. A couple other areas are about as large, but aren't packed with as many fetch-type quests.
(Anyone saying the combat in this game is the worst in the series is also crazy. It's the best parts of both games battle systems imo.)
(Anyone saying the combat in this game is the worst in the series is also crazy. It's the best parts of both games battle systems imo.)
OricWindstar
Member
That's good to hear. I've never played a DA game before (I know, I know...), but from what I've seen the character interactions seem to be good.
Yeah, I'm definitely not a completionist, so that should help greatly. I'm kind of the opposite actually; if I have a quest, I just want to finish the quest. No time to help someone find they're cat when the kingdom needs to be saved.
I agree the tactical view is worse than origins, but mechanically the core combat is much stronger.
And I don't know how it could possibly be the worst in the series. mechanically it's better than DA2 in every way. Even it's less than optimal tactical cam is better because DA2 doesn't even have one :/
Sanctuary
Member
It does in a way. At least the pause and play aspect (PC) of DA2 was easier to manage than in this game where you're lucky to ever see more than two of your party members at a single time in any encounter with the tactical screen.
The party AI might be slightly improved in this when allowed to do their own thing compared to the previous games, but when you factor in macros, it's pretty weak. The lack of healing and limited potion use doesn't really make it more "tactical" either, it just makes it annoying and slightly more difficult to keep stupid AI alive. That's probably the main reason I also think that a Rift Mage is the best Mage on Hard or Nightmare. Who cares if the Knight Enchanter is strong at soloing? A group is still better.
Don't confuse encounter design with AI or combat options. DA2 had the worst encounter designs of the three.
They are avoidable, but the maps are pretty swarmed with quests that are typically pretty mediocre.
In a way it reminds me of Xenoblade. I burned myself out on the game when I first played it due to trying to tick a ton of the quests away. I feel like the same could happen in DA if you don't progress at all and just chip away at a seemingly endless pile of quests.
In a way it reminds me of Xenoblade. I burned myself out on the game when I first played it due to trying to tick a ton of the quests away. I feel like the same could happen in DA if you don't progress at all and just chip away at a seemingly endless pile of quests.
Flacracker
Banned
They are worse than MMO quests.
If I were to frame it in terms of Mass Effect:
Mass Effect 1's style of side quests and planet zones with Mass Effect 2's cast and Mass Effect 3's cinematic style of main story. Mix in huge zones and a Suikoden castle.
I really enjoy that they encourage you to explore every inch of the map like FFXII did (I generally do them all before moving on), but for a game with no really practical traversal methods (climbing/parkour), they sure make it frustrating to get to some of those places and resort to ultrajanky platforming.
Some rewards like schematics I appreciate, but most of the time it's a bunch of junky weapons and maybe a few codex entries at the end of a "quest".
Also, it's really easy to overlevel.
Some rewards like schematics I appreciate, but most of the time it's a bunch of junky weapons and maybe a few codex entries at the end of a "quest".
Also, it's really easy to overlevel.
A Serious Man
Member
Protip: Don't ever grab the Requisition quests. They're repeatable fetch quests that never end and are only meant to be done if you want extra power/influence. If Bioware patched the quest marker above the Requisition agents head out or explained them better, pretty much all of the complaints about the MMO fetch quests in the game would disappear.
You don't have to do the fetch quests if you don't want to. You get enough power just doing the central questline for each zone and exploring a little bit (establishing camps, etc.) to propel you through the game. The problem is people feel like they need to 100% a zone before moving on and the first zone in particular is packed out with little quests and collections. Most of the areas in the game don't have nearly as many quests as the Hinterlands does and don't feel as overwhelming.
You don't have to do the fetch quests if you don't want to. You get enough power just doing the central questline for each zone and exploring a little bit (establishing camps, etc.) to propel you through the game. The problem is people feel like they need to 100% a zone before moving on and the first zone in particular is packed out with little quests and collections. Most of the areas in the game don't have nearly as many quests as the Hinterlands does and don't feel as overwhelming.
Personally I didn't have an issue but I'm not opposed to fetch quests when they're not completely phoned in. Never had to grind through content I didn't want to do in order to progress, and ignoring tasks that don't seem worth the effort is the way to go anyway for a game this big.
Sometimes I want to be heavily engaged in an RPG for combat, story or lore reasons, sometimes I just want to explore a huge world a bit more mindlessly, maybe with a podcast in the background. There's room for both in DA:I, and the more menial stuff is mostly far less obnoxious than actual MMO quests that have grated on me in the past. Less ground to cover, at the very least.
Sometimes I want to be heavily engaged in an RPG for combat, story or lore reasons, sometimes I just want to explore a huge world a bit more mindlessly, maybe with a podcast in the background. There's room for both in DA:I, and the more menial stuff is mostly far less obnoxious than actual MMO quests that have grated on me in the past. Less ground to cover, at the very least.
OricWindstar
Member
Haha, man, that's pretty much got me sold, honestly. I may have to play the game regardless just to see which side of the conflicting comments in this thread I fall on.
KillerMan91
Member
Well after watching some videos and recalling memories of DAII maybe not completely but some aspects of it were better (like Sanctuary posted). Compared to DA:O though it's shit. I still very much like the game though so not regretting my purchase.
whatsinaname
Member
Even a lot of the companion's quests feel like fetch quests. Vivienne, Varric, Blackwall, Dorian all have them.
BattleMonkey
Member
No, the main story line along with rift closing and finding camps alone gives you enough power to continue on your story. And if you want a couple side quests here and there take no time and give you more than enough power. Theres far more power to gain than needed in the game, all the optional side quests just gives players freedom to do it the way they want too.
You have to do "some" side content in order to build Power. What people are concerned about being forced to do are the tedious gathering shit - Supply requisitions, Shard collections, those little things with the constellations, etc.
Nobody's worried that they might have to do dungeons and take back keeps and do the other side quests that are actually fun and well-designed, especially since you don't even need to do all of those in the first place.
krameriffic
Member
My problem is that they dilute and hide the good content. You're not quite sure whether a quest is just a pointless festival of fetching bullshit or a gateway to something more important and interesting. That is a shitty feeling--like you're rooting around through a pile of manure looking for diamonds.
Sanctuary
Member
That Mass Effect comparison is kind of close, but even ME1 had less fillter quests than this game, and it had its surplus for sure.
Exactly.
His Majesty
Banned
I liked The Hinterlands, probably because it all felt fresh and new. When I arrived at Skyhold I was overwhelmed by the amount of content that opened up. That feeling quickly changed in disappointment when I was confronted with the quality of that content. Double disappointment when I saw the length of the main campaign.
Yes, most of the filler is optional, but if you remove that all that's left is a 15h-20h game.
Yes, most of the filler is optional, but if you remove that all that's left is a 15h-20h game.
LurkerPrime
Member
The quests in DAI are some of the most meaningless, boilerplate MMO-style quests you'll ever come across. Star Wars The Old Republic, a bonafide MMO, had more meaningful set-up and integration for a majority of its quests, which is saying something considering how damn MMO-y they actually ended up being.
You could cut out 60-80% of Dragon Age: Inqusition's content and the journey you'd experience would be largely the same. The mainline quests are maybe ten hours in total going through all at once, and they get progressively worse the farther in you go. The other stuff, like companion quests, are very short, linear affairs that, while enjoyable, feel half-baked and rushed. All of the other content is repetitive MMO-styled quests or War Table missions that are timer-based and almost completely uninteractive.
It's an OK game, but it could've been so much more had the promise of the first couple hours held up for the next sixty.
Agreed. The
tactical combat view, not to mention the controls in Inquisition, are enough to mark it as the worst in the series. It's not even close.
Do the combat & tactical view really work OK on consoles? I struggle to believe it.
You could cut out 60-80% of Dragon Age: Inqusition's content and the journey you'd experience would be largely the same. The mainline quests are maybe ten hours in total going through all at once, and they get progressively worse the farther in you go. The other stuff, like companion quests, are very short, linear affairs that, while enjoyable, feel half-baked and rushed. All of the other content is repetitive MMO-styled quests or War Table missions that are timer-based and almost completely uninteractive.
It's an OK game, but it could've been so much more had the promise of the first couple hours held up for the next sixty.
Agreed. The
lack of a
Do the combat & tactical view really work OK on consoles? I struggle to believe it.
prag16
Banned
This is a good overview. WAY the hell too MMO-esque. Only single player RPG this side of Skyrim that had me feeling like I was playing an MMO...
Not getting bogged down in the Hinterlands is key. GTFO of there as soon as reasonably possible... Things definitely pick up later on.
The horrific-ly bad quest log doesn't help any. Somehow managed to be WORSE than the borderline broken ME3 quest log...
Which led to Mass Effect 1's zones being mostly empty space...not what I'd call an improvement, really.
They work pretty great in my opinion. Also consider the comparison: Origins' combat on consoles was even worse than Inquisition's combat on PC.
Markitron
Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Are they all as big as the Hinterlands? I'm kinda getting bogged down there right now.
Schweinehund
Member
Yeah don't worry about it, there's pretty much zero world affecting choices through the sidequests. There are some neat ones though. You'll be able to easily distinguish between what a fetch quest is and what some of the longer ones are. Whenever you're bored of side quests you should be sitting on enough power to unlock the main story quests pretty easy. Don't recommend doing the requisition table stuff for power though, some of them suck up a lot of crafting materials.
Xilium
Member
DA2 has a more robust tactics menu which makes up for the lack of tactical cam. The wave-based encounters were a bigger issue in DA2 than the lack of a tac-cam. The lack of a meaningful tactical menu, and therefore the stupidity of the AI, is the only reason there is any challenge at all in DAI's combat.
Ralemont said:
Personally, I think DAI is the worst in the series on both fronts.
No that's the biggest area in the game.
No, most are noticeably smaller.
Can you give me a non-spoilery example? As far as I remember there aren't really any fetch quests that lead to story quests.
Markitron
Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Thanks, it was starting to get on my nerves tbh. It feels like it's been ages since I have done a story quest.
I still think the health potion system was a weird design choice, but in its entirety I prefer DA:I combat over DA2. The latter had no strategy feeling to it. It felt like mashing buttons to win. It was obviously rushed in. Press A for Awesome is a bit overblown, but I still have much issues with it beyond just encounter design.
LurkerPrime
Member
Rule of thumb is if you're not going to a unique quest area it's an almost meaningless MMO-styled quest, like "kill this group of people," or "talk to this person to receive a real quest."
Good point. I guess that would explain it.
That's one of the main problems I have with the game, there isn't many story quests at all. They expect the game time to be padded out by the side quests.
AHA-Lambda
Member
That sounds awful, the more I hear about Inquisition the more I wonder about why it was so acclaimed =/
Works a hell of a lot better, definitely was designed around gamepads. That's why I played with a 360 controller. Keyboard and Mouse felt completely awkward.
Great games can have flaws. Shocking, I know.