Dragon Age III: Inquisition

Disgustipated said:

Back to DA:I, anyone else playing the game can say if the story is worth playing the game? I'm surprised so few are playing the game here. I suppose DA2's quality is to blame for that.

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I'm almost certainly going to get it at some point, I'm just waiting on a) player opinion to settle and b) more available free time. Critic reviews are pretty positive but I recall so were they for DA2. I am hopeful though, as what I've seen and heard (bull-riding nonwithstanding) sounds good.

Disgustipated said:

Back to DA:I, anyone else playing the game can say if the story is worth playing the game? I'm surprised so few are playing the game here. I suppose DA2's quality is to blame for that.

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It's good so far but I don't think I far into it, I just sorted out the Orlais civil war. Some people have complained it has too many fetch quests, but that's because they are staying in the hinterlands and trying to do every quest in that area. You can spend over 10 hrs wandering in that one area if you doing the sidequests.
Just get your horse and build up enough power to move on with the story missions then get out.

Edit: alos Sera has no redeeming features don't let her join or kick her out at the first opportunity.

Oruc said:

You can spend over 10 hrs wandering in that one area if you doing the sidequests.
Just get your horse and build up enough power to move on with the story missions then get out.

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More than 10. It's something I did and now consider a mistake that won't be repeated.

Edit: alos Sera has no redeeming features don't let her join or kick her out at the first opportunity.

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Sera is an acquired taste. I really didn't like her when I first met her, but she's growing on me, and given the situation of elves in the setting it's no surprise that more than a few would turn out this way.
I might not recruit Iron Bull in my next game. Worst character dialogue in a Bioware game ever. It's like the guy was written by some teenaged fanfic writer with no regard to the setting.

wifey bought me the game as a surprise. but having a bit of trouble getting it to run. it was running, but then stopped running. seems to be a graphics driver problem. also had a problem with c++ runtime files.

Well that's a bummer, not being able to run a gift makes people feel guilty

Disgustipated said:

wifey bought me the game as a surprise. but having a bit of trouble getting it to run. it was running, but then stopped running. seems to be a graphics driver problem. also had a problem with c++ runtime files.

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That sucks.
Do you have a Nvidia card ? I've read that the game doesn't like them them. If you use AMD you should try their new beta driver. It works great fo me, except for two crashes in the span of over 20 hours and the graphics are really impressive with the sad exeption of (facial) hair.

Btw, if you're a total nerd, here's a link that shows how to make your character look like Daenerys from Game of Thrones.

I figured it out. I figured it would run since it ran initially. It stopped running when I messed with the graphics settings from automatic and put the settings on high. I wanted to see how it would run. Problem is you can't adjust the graphics settings unless you are in game. But the game would crash upon booting with the graphics set on high. So I could never get in game to lower the settings back.

I found another way to reset the graphics setting with a text file in the dragon age folder in my documents. I reset everything to 1, and then later adjusted the settings to medium. I can run the game okay with medium settings. My graphics card is ancient. Geforce 250s.

Story is okay so far. Although I really get annoyed with 2 games in a row dealing with mages and templars. I always felt it was the weakest part of the DA universe. I'd rather deal with darkspawn, archdemons, and grey wardens. Yeah I know they wrote themselves into a corner by having the blight happen very infrequently.

Combat is a bit weak, weaker than combat in Dragon Age 2 even. But maybe I'll like it better if I can figure out what the hell I'm doing. Moving around combat is pita, and creatures don't often stay right in front of you. I'm playing a 2 handed warrior btw. Seems strange having 1st person like combat in the 3rd person perspective. Often my own character is blocking the view. Or when fighting the pride demon early on, his big butt blocked everything. And then adjusting the camera so I could even see the rift/breach thing. I forgot to loot the pride demon, so I reloaded. I did even worse on the pride demon fight the second time.

Oh tactics, how I miss thee (yes there are tactics in this game, but not like Origins or DA2).

Controls aren't as bad as everyone says. I mapped them more similar to New Vegas and Skyrim controls. My main issues are with camera angles in combat, and moving around in combat (I often get stuck on my teammates).

The game feels more like a movie interspersed with combat that you participate in. I think the game will grow on me if the plot gets better. A bit slow in the beginning. Seeing as this is a gift, I will play all the way through even if I get bored of the game. But I think the story will keep me going. Story is probably the only strong point this game has.

GoodSarmatian said:

Sera is an acquired taste. I really didn't like her when I first met her, but she's growing on me, and given the situation of elves in the setting it's no surprise that more than a few would turn out this way.
I might not recruit Iron Bull in my next game. Worst character dialogue in a Bioware game ever. It's like the guy was written by some teenaged fanfic writer with no regard to the setting.

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Well I can't stand her, especially after her personal mission. Haven't really talked to Iron bull.

Disgustipated said:

wifey bought me the game as a surprise. but having a bit of trouble getting it to run. it was running, but then stopped running. seems to be a graphics driver problem. also had a problem with c++ runtime files.

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I get alot of crashes, cutscenes and loading new areas can cause it to crash and it says it was a problem with my driver. Although I played for 6 hrs and didn't have a problem once. But i'm running the game on a toaster so thats probably the best I can hope for.

Disgustipated said:

Story is okay so far. Although I really get annoyed with 2 games in a row dealing with mages and templars. I always felt it was the weakest part of the DA universe. I'd rather deal with darkspawn, archdemons, and grey wardens. Yeah I know they wrote themselves into a corner by having the blight happen very infrequently.

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I don't want to spoil anything, but I think it's not a spoiler to say that game is not about mages vs templars. You have to deal with them, but there are other things to deal with too.

Combat is a bit weak, weaker than combat in Dragon Age 2 even. But maybe I'll like it better if I can figure out what the hell I'm doing. Moving around combat is pita, and creatures don't often stay right in front of you. I'm playing a 2 handed warrior btw. Seems strange having 1st person like combat in the 3rd person perspective. Often my own character is blocking the view. Or when fighting the pride demon early on, his big butt blocked everything. And then adjusting the camera so I could even see the rift/breach thing. I forgot to loot the pride demon, so I reloaded. I did even worse on the pride demon fight the second time.

Oh tactics, how I miss thee (yes there are tactics in this game, but not like Origins or DA2).

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The combat could really be better, but it's OK if you pause frequently and don't use the tactical view. It doesn't really zoom out enough to be useful and you're better off jumping between your followers to get an overview.
The AI is competent, but I would advise to disable Barrier and other useful AoE skills or your companions will waste mana/stamina and cooldown time. It took me a couple of days, but I've gotten used to the combat and controls. i would still like it more if the combat was more strategy and less action. Also playing as a 2-hand warrior btw.

The game feels more like a movie interspersed with combat that you participate in. I think the game will grow on me if the plot gets better. A bit slow in the beginning. Seeing as this is a gift, I will play all the way through even if I get bored of the game. But I think the story will keep me going. Story is probably the only strong point this game has.

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Oh, the story will really get better...

Oruc said:

Well I can't stand her, especially after her personal mission. Haven't really talked to Iron bull.

Spoiler :

did you go with mages or templars? This was the first game where the templars came across like the wrong choice. But I didn't do the mage mission so maybe they did something equally stupid

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Yeah, the mission made me dislike her somewhat more. It has a better outcome if you have the inquisition perk that gives you special political dialogue options.



I have hardly had any technical issues, except for Origin's nasty habit of crashing after I finish a boss fight for the first time.

Disgustipated said:

Although I really get annoyed with 2 games in a row dealing with mages and templars. I always felt it was the weakest part of the DA universe. I'd rather deal with darkspawn, archdemons, and grey wardens.

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Huh. I find the mage-templar conflict a lot more interesting than orcs darkspawn, it's just poorly written (at least in DA2). Although maybe that's just because I'm getting tired of stories, particularly fantasy ones, that boil down to "only you can defeat the invading horde of ancient evil in order to save the world." The mage/templar conflict has a lot of potential, certainly more than an orc army called something different.

That's kind of how I feel about DA:O's story vs. DA2's story. The story in DA:O was bland, but at least it was polished and cohesive. DA2 is kind of the opposite. Something bland executed well vs. something original executed poorly.

The original had the subplot of the betrayal of the King and establishing rule over Fereldan as well which I enjoyed.

As for mages and templars, I enjoyed them in the first game. Both sides seemed rational at the time, and their actions weren't too crazy. Where as both sides really went crazy at the end of 2, and continuing in 3. But as mentioned earlier, the plot perhaps expands.

Enjoying the game so far. Mostly as an exploration game with decent story and dialogue. Better than 2 I suppose. Still no where near Origins, but it does do one thing better than Origins, and that's world exploration (which is something I enjoy in games). Only worry now is I may get bored of the game before the end, which happens in games such as Skyrim, Fallout 3, and even New Vegas (although I have finished NV 6 or 7 times, I have unfinished games as well). When there's too much to explore, completionists like me get bogged down exploring everything. I'm 16 hours into the game and still have not finished exploring hinterlands.

Disgustipated said:

When there's too much to explore, completionists like me get bogged down exploring everything. I'm 16 hours into the game and still have not finished exploring hinterlands.

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I have the same problem. I highly recommend that you screw the Hinterlands and move on to a main story quest when you have 15 power and the recommended level. That's when the story starts to pick up.
You won't be able to fully explore most areas during your first visit anyway since they contain zones with higher level enemies.
My first encounter with a Revenant did not last long.

GoodSarmatian said:

That sucks.
Do you have a Nvidia card ? I've read that the game doesn't like them them. If you use AMD you should try their new beta driver. It works great fo me, except for two crashes in the span of over 20 hours and the graphics are really impressive with the sad exeption of (facial) hair.

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This is the biggest problem of the game ATM. I've a NVIDIA card, an the game crashed 4 times in Exalted plains during a short time so that area is totally unplayable. In other areas it doesn't happen so often but now and then anyway. Anybody with a NVIDIA card should probably wait until a promised patch arrives.

The game itself is of the highest quality. I don't remember a game that has impressed me so much. Of course it's partially a matter of opinion but i'd say those who say the game is total crap are simply wrong. It has some glitches but apart from the crash problem they are tolerable.

Funny, never had a crash to desktop until you mentioned it. I had 2 today so far.

Maybe my Nvidia card is so old, it doesn't really matter.

Geforce 250s on medium settings except for meshes so I don't get shiny hair.

I eventually did move onto the main quest. I encountered a Revenant, only level 12, but he cleaned me up pretty good. That was in the swampy area. And most remaining Hinterlands enemies were level 12 as well.

My main issue is they keep referring to me as a woman. Strange bug. And it's starting to get annoying being called a woman all the time (or my lady as they often say).

Damn gender bug. I just looked it up, but there is no fix other than restarting. I'm 44 hours into the game already. Seriously Bioware. argh.

Now I know why I couldn't get any romance going with Cassandra. I don't think she does lesbo stuff. It's kind of hilarious though, I just tested it on Blackwell and the voice files won't play because I'm assuming it's searching for a female voice file while mine is a male voice file. So no speech comes out during the dialogue. I ended that of course, looks like I'm stuck with crazy Sera.

Disgustipated said:

My main issue is they keep referring to me as a woman. Strange bug. And it's starting to get annoying being called a woman all the time (or my lady as they often say).

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Are you certain it's not a feature?

Obviously that's a terrible bug, but why'd you wait so long to google for a fix?

Game is updating now, so maybe they have a fix for it. Although I doubt it's a high priority fix. I wasn't that concerned about the gender bug anyways. The game was playable. I'm romancing Josephine anyways. I'm now using Blackwell instead of Cassandra as my tank, I think I like him better. And using Sera isntead of Varric now.

I wish I could have more than 8 quick slots. I already ran out of room for skills on my quick bar. It's a downside to this game, and I'll be knocking down my review for this game because of it. Tentatively I give the game an 80% score with over 60 hours in, but I won't have a final review until the game is complete. Too many people already reviewed the game with less than 10 hours played.

This is just a huge game. I'm starting to see tier 3 stuff though, so maybe I'm getting near the end. Not sure what average level people are finishing the game. I still haven't finished exploring all the areas. I'm level 16 now.

Only quest I had a problem with is Where the Druffalo Roam. Stupid Druffalo won't follow me. Very annoying quest.

Patch notes, it seems they may have fixed the gender bug.

Singleplayer

Fixed case where game would incorrectly think the player has more than one race/class/gender
Fixed case where users who changed their voice off of default, would have their voice set back to default when interacting with Hawke’s chargen settings.
Increased duration that search highlights things, and added highlighted items to radar while they are highlighted.
Fixed several conversation lines which would take a very long time to advance to the next line unless they were manually skipped.
Fixed case where followers could float above the ground after extended periods of play
[PC] Fixed some hitching in conversations.
[PC] Pressing the interact key (default “F&#8221 will take everything from containers.
[PC] Hair should be less shiny on lower quality settings.
[PC] Added ability to rotate character models with the mouse in UI’s that show character models
[PC] Added an option to enable / disable tactical camera on mouse wheel scroll out.
[PC] Hiding the HUD on the PC will now hide all UI elements
[PC] Fixed being able to drag abilities from a tree that was not selected onto the quickbar
[PC] Fixed being able to toggle UI state for the tactical camera on the quickbar when the tactical camera is unusable
[PC] Fixed case where clicking quickbar elements in Eyefinity would trigger attacks
[PC] fixed case where extra mouse-up events were triggering in UIs
[PC] Fixed issue where mouse-up events were missed when dragging off of UI elements and then releasing the mouse button
[PC] Fixed loading Icon not animating while Mantle creates shaders during load screens.
[PC] Fixed mouse cursor flashing while targeting AOEs
[PC] Fixed situation that could result in a hang on the start menu.
[PC] Fixed situation where war table could become non-interactive until users right clicked on it.
[PC] Fixed situation which could cause mouse-look to snap to a facing rather than turning smoothly
[PC] Holding right click and pressing the camera turn buttons in tactical camera will cause the cursor to strafe in the same manner the camera behaves outside tactical camera
[PC] Made some changes that should improve Mantle performance
[PC] quickbar indicator for pause state should no longer remain highlighted when game is not paused
[PS3] Increased number of save slots to 30
[PS4] Improved conversation performance during fast install
[PS4] Increased number of save slots to 50
[360] Fixed case where movies sometimes decoded incorrectly
[360] Fixed Crash when selecting storage device when select storage device warning is present
[360] Fixed the online connection error being displayed twice when attempting to login to Origin with no Xbox live connection.
Assorted stability improvements
Fixed crash that could occur after some conversations
Certain boss creatures are now immune to Disruption Field
Creatures in rag doll will now pause when the game is paused
Fix to Spirit Blade so it longer triggers combos
Fixed a couple focus abilities to be weapon agnostic
Fixed a few DA Keep world state import reactivity checks.
Fixed a few situations that could result in there being no conversation selection indicator during conversations
Fixed an issue caused by changing characters at the same as targeting an AOE ability
Fixed Audio cutting out when using AOE abilities while radial menu is open.
Fixed being unable to finish quest “Safe Keeping” if the user places key fragments in the forger, then leaves the zone without getting the finished key.
Fixed camera shaking when making small camera adjustments during character creation
Fixed case where blizzard would pause the game when it turns off
Fixed case where controller rumble would get permanently disabled
Fixed case where Imshael could end up in a location where players could not fight him.
Fixed case where interaction text would not update in tactical camera
Fixed case where mana or stamina was incorrectly displayed on mounted character’s portraits
Fixed case where users could get stuck loading a save in a certain dragon combat area
Fixed case where users could get stuck on an infinite “Connecting to Dragon Age Servers”
Fixed Crippling Blows to have a 15% damage bonus instead of .15%
Fixed Cullen’s hair having some strange shadows during cinematics
Fixed exploit that would allow bypassing ability cool-downs in certain circumstances
Fixed exploit that would allow users to take no damage.
Fixed issue where orders to interact with trebuchets made in tactical mode were un-interruptable.
Fixed issue where user loses control of the party if he enters tactical camera at the same time as a cinematic triggers
Fixed issue which could cause potion counts to be reset due to party member changes.
Fixed issue which could result in an infinite “Connecting to Dragon Age Servers” on the main menu.
Fixed issue which could result in the Radial menu not staying open
Fixed issue which could result in the screen re-sizing UI to stop working until exiting and re-entering the screen re-sizing UI.
Fixed scripted autosave in the western approach which was made which if loaded could result in certain NPCs to not show up until after leaving the area and coming back.
Fixed situation where followers could get stuck while pathfinding to the player.
Fixed some of the collectible books being non-interactive in Skyhold
Fixed slot types on several crafted items
Fixed some item names getting cut off in stores
Fixed weapon type on several crafted weapon parts.
Ground rings scale on Dragons in Tactical Camera
Radar will be shown during radar tutorial, even if the UI is set to be hidden
Radar will show way points immediately after coming out of UIs, no longer requires player to move first.
Target lock is cleared when entering tactical mode.
Unified sort order for stat listings during item modification

Really enjoying the game so far, it's excellent. The kb+m controls aren't horrible (maybe they've been patched?), but they're not great either. I haven't tried a controller, so maybe I'm just living in ignorance. My only real complaint is that the game doesn't run very well on my laptop, and frame rates are all over the place (it varies anywhere between 20 - 60 fps). That said, it still looks surprisingly great on the lowest settings.

Yeah I had very little problem with the controls. They don't feel as precise as say Star Wars: The Old Republic, but thankfully jumping and precise movement is only necessary in a couple spots in this game (and even then only for loot and a shard). The Tactics camera could maybe use some improvement, but I only really used tactics on dragon fights. They haven't been patched as far as I know.

Speaking of dragons, I missed out on the dragon achievement even though I slayed all 10 dragons. I think my internet was down at the time though, I've been having internet problems. Very annoying as I spent 45 minutes for the "last" dragon in Emprise. Very annoying fight, and I have no desire to repeat that fight any time soon. Strange that an optional dragon is the toughest fight in the game where as the final boss battle was fairly easy. Although I suppose Origins was like this as well (High Dragon in Origins and/or Flemith being the toughest fight in that game). Combat is fun in this game, very fun in fact. But that one dragon fight wasn't fun for me. A 45 minute battle just isn't fun. It may haven been closer to 50 minutes... I had an earlier dragon battle that was maybe 30 minutes, which I failed the first time (right with just a sliver of health left), and had to repeat. That was the one in Storm Coast.

Better than Origins? No. Better than DA2? Yes, by far. I don't really consider this a real RPG. More of an action RPG at best. But really I just call it a fantasy action game. To me, a role playing game is more than a character going up numerically in levels. It's about actual role playing experience. And yes, I know there are many decisions (and even judgements of criminal cases) you make, so I guess marginally it's a rpg. I just wish I had more options for character development (warriors using bows, crossbows, dual wielding), mages using something other than a staff. And having only 8 hot keys really limits things. I go up in so many levels, I can select all the skills (relevant to my 2 handed style) anyways, so role playing in that aspect is limited as well. There were no tough decisions to make regarding allocations of my skills.

I did upgrade my hard drive (to a 10,000 rpm one) last week and my video card to a Geforce 970 4G gaming card last week. My computer other than that is over 5 years old, but I figure those things will extend the life of my computer 3 or 4 years. This video card can easily run this game at Ultra settings. Although I was a little disappointed the difference between Medium settings and ultra isn't that much. The game looks pretty damn good at medium settings.

Here's my review: (PC version)

Bugs/stability: A. Other than the gender bug at the beginning (patched already), I've only had 3 crashes to desktop (2 with my old video card, and 1 with my new video card). There is one other bug with your voice changing if you choose to customize . I reloaded and chose default. It's kind of jarring having your voice change halfway through the game. I'm unsure if that's been patched yet. I didn't notice any other bugs, so they may have been too small for me to notice.

Gameplay: A+ There isn't much not to like. Other than some weird balance issues (dragon fight lasting 45 minutes, and final boss only around 5 minutes- not that I wanted another 45 minute fight), the combat is excellent. Exploration is very excellent as well, and a welcome relief in a Bioware game. It has better exploration than their MMO (The Old Republic) even. Dungeons are a little small though. I can only speak for 2handed warrior combat, as I controlled my character almost exclusively (except when he died). Smashing someone with a big sword or axe is satisfying. Animations are still a little quick, but not immersion breaking speed like Dragon Age 2. No auto attack, but I find I don't miss it. Maybe this might be more of an issue with rogue dagger build, I don't know. I was mostly using skills anyways.

Roleplaying: C- Not enough direct interaction with your followers. Lots of banter though, and I did enjoy that. Big decisions in the game only seemed to affect your party members influence, although I'm sure they affected the ending as well. The decision of what to do with a certain returning character seemed to have no effect, other than some of your party members getting very p'd off.

Story: A- The story didn't seem quite as focused as Dragon Age: Origins. I know people complain about the stereotypical evil creatures taking over the world plot in games, but I thought it worked well in Origins because it did have a backstory to it (the first blight, magisters attempting to enter the golden city etc.). The ending didn't seem as epic as Origins even though you are saving the world instead of only the nation of Fereldan. Better plot than DA2 though, by far.

Interface: B- Lack of naming of save games. Damn consoles. You are putting us back 20 years. We had the ability to name save games in the 90's dammit. What gives? Yes they have no keyboard, but I have seen typewriter interfaces pop up on my daughters PS3, you can enter text to find movies on Netflix and such. Controls seem a little clunky and not as precise as I'd like them. Thankfully no jumping puzzles like Star Wars: The Old Republic. Inventory is okay I suppose. Character attribute screens have a weird layout. Tactics mode has camera issues still, and no queue. Very little way to control your party member's tactics. Lack of more than 8 hot keys (I know this is more of a game balance issue and not interface, but whatever).

Voice Acting: A. No real complaints. They even have Jennifer Hale back (in an unexpected role). American accent male Inquisitor was a little flat at times.

Party NPC's: A. Not as good as Origins with regards to party member personalities and interaction. Origins had a ton of backstory you could discover. Personalities were better than DA2 by far. Lelianna and another returning female (no spoiler) NPC were good. Cassandra was excellent. Varric was good, but maybe not quite as good as DA2. Cole was annoying, but that's how the character was written. I almost never used him. Iron Bull was an excellent character, and maybe the best one of this game (although still no Sten, Sten was a more complex character). Josephine was my love interest, but the love story in this game wasn't as good as Origins (thankfully no underwear scenes though). Vivienne and Cullen were good as well. Sera was excellent although I didn't like her initially, she grew on me a little. Blackwell had an interesting story twist I didn't see coming.

graphics: A. Probably not top of the line compared to shooter games, but I never play shooters. So I was quite impressed actually. I had never seen waves from the ocean in an rpg before, or glistening of stone walls and rock from rain. And I got all this even on medium settings. I wouldn't try to run this game from onboard video, however. You need a graphics card.

sound: A-. Sound effects were nice. Changing the sound levels seemed to have no effect. Voices were hard to hear, but if I turned it up too much, sound effects such as explosions from rifts, and combat abilities were too loud. Even when I lowered the volume on those.

Music: B+ The music at the intro screen is nice. But honestly, I don't recall any other music hardly. Not as good as Origins. The exception being the bard songs she plays in your tavern. Those were a very nice touch, and I really enjoyed those. I missed finding 2 songs somewhere though.

exploration: A. No major complaints. I found exploration more fun than games such as Skyrim. Only downside is small dungeons, and lack of enough dungeons. There are invisible walls in some places, but they don't seem too intrusive. You can't go into the ocean, but that didn't bother me. My warrior wearing heavy plate armor doesn't belong in the ocean anyways.

Overall: A-. I liked this game more than Skyrim. I admit I've always enjoyed gameplay more in Bioware games than Bethesda games. The only thing Bethesda had over Bioware was open world exploration. This world still isn't truly open world, but Bioware fixed their lack of exploration they've had in their games (Baldur's Gate 1 was their last game that had decent exploration). I did not get bored of this game as I did with Skyrim (which can have repetitive combat).