Dragon Age 3

[Gotthammer]

Is anyone else having the issue with medium graphics making all of the hair "shiny" for lack of a better term? If I switch to high it goes away. Alas playing in high isn't always a good idea for my computer

Yep - I'm just assuming bryl cream is super popular

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and splodgey, you also get on the inventory page "Ferelden longsword: Equipped by Beetroot"

[eldargal]

Game of the Year.

[Psychosplodge]

It lets you have names that long? or is it a foul mouthed elf?

[Wildeybeast]

I'd need my Inquisitor's Edition to be here to do that though.

Game claim they posted mine yesterday, but I'm pretty sure they are lying. I'll be astounded if it's here tomorrow.

[eldargal]

Ditto, hope they aren't lying though.

[Gotthammer]

Played for 14 hours straight... just finished the prologue... this game is huge...

[eldargal]

300 hours for a regular playthrough, 85 for a real speed run apparently. So excited.><

[Gotthammer]

Ok review time:

The good:

F@%*ing epic: as said this game is huge, the scenery is amazing and beautiful, and it really does have a massive, epic scope.

Representation! Lots of women and non-white people in crowds and as talking NPCs, saw some dark-skinned elves in Redcliffe and one of the major non-party NPCs is a black lady and there's a [URL="http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Krem"]canon transgender character[/URL] (which was a wonderful surprise to see on the Trans Day of Remembrance) like for reals people.

Choices - now we all like to make fun of BioWare for the end of ME3, but they've really picked up their game (ha!) here - there are instances where people ask about your faith, or reaction to being seen as a religious figure, and you can accept it, deny it, scorn it, say you don't know, say you hope not and say you hope so in some cases. And even choices to question your own character's faith in conversations. It's pretty bloody amazing and important in both the DA world and DAI in particular.
Also race selection really seems to matter, there are lots of bits where people will refer to you with slang about your choice race, make comments like "I expected you to be human", a minor sub-plot about people using your race against you, and even being able to say "I can't be the saviour I'm a qunari!". And when everyone's getting on your case about something you can defend it as having to make a decision then and there and get grumpy at them.

Humour - not as much as a Hawke who's gone full purple, but there's still a lot there and is really necessary.

Autosaving - it autosaves a helluva lot.

The NPCs and Companions - A wide, diverse bunch and lots of really interesting conversations to be had. Got a list of "people most likely to betray me" but even then I actually like all the characters I've met, and while there are some party members I like less, it's not like previous games where there have been characters I actively disliked *coughStencough*

The Map - when you switch to the map it'll show a trail behind your marker so you can see where you've been. It's brilliant and I love it. Makes searching so much easier.

Cutscenes - lots of them and really pretty. The epic battles are really epic and the more personal ones have more emotion to them.

Mounts - riding a horse is not terrible! Quite fun as you can trample people even

The Music - Epic.

Epicness - yes.



The not so good:

Cutscenes - Well they do have some glitches, mostly I think due to playing a qunari, who is a full head taller than a human. It does lead to such scenes as a conversation where the shot instead of being her face her head is out of frame so it's a screen of her boobs talking There are also glitches where she won't be holding things quite properly or when she moves it's a bit odd with some clipping, but I'm assuming that's due to mesh issues using animations designed for smaller figures. It's not terrible I don't feel.
Also sometimes there are NPCs resetting in the background so you'll be talking to someone and have a merchant nyoom past in the background

Interface - it's clearly a console port, the inventory system is kinda terrible to be honest, and the keyboard and mouse controls are a bit clunky. It's not bad but, well, when Skyrim has a better inventory management system that you... also no way to quickly switch between inventory and profile screens, and still cant unequip items in merchant screens so if you buy a replacement you have to buy it, go into inventory and swap, then go back and sell the old one.

Muddy instructions - not for quests, but for how some game mechanics work, like selecting quests or fast travel and the like. Just a bit of extra mucking around but not serious.

The grind is real - the downside of the game being so huge. You can go a long time between "real" missions, needing to do lots of sidequests to get stats/points up to go do plot missions. Not terrible but if you're like me and play for the story mostly it can be a bit frustrating at times.

Party banter - not sure if it's just me but I"ve only had one instance of party banter so far. Bit of a shame as it can make the game feel very silent at times.

It runs hot - seriously if you're on PC it is a beast. As said above you get some weird graphical things like everyone having shiny hair if the setting aren't up high but I'm pretty sure my computer would burst into flames so whatever.

Misc - not sure why but there's a bit where you meet a certain someone and it gives you the option to customise their appearance in the middle of the game but when I did that it switched my Inquisitors voice to the american one and omg it's terrible. I think I know why that happened but still really weird.


Overall though it is an amazing game and all y'all should get it!

[Gotthammer]

[Kirsten]

that top picture looks like it has come from a spoof documentary, being interviewed while something terrible goes on in the background...