Dragon Age: Origins vs Inquisition
- Thread starter playXray
- Start date
It gets a lot of backlash on here. Any time there is a DA thread people say just to skip it because it has a lot of side quests that are fetch quests, but if someone was into the lore of a world I don't see how anyone could outright hate it. The game has pacing problems, true, but a lot of the hate is inflated. Some people value gameplay over story, especially favoring more tactical elements in a WRPG rather than something more action rpg-based. Inquisition was the latter, while Origins was the former. Also add that to the fact that a lot of people either didn't leave the first zone for like 30+ hours because they felt the need to be completionist and thus got burned out and dropped the game, you get a lot of mixed opinions. It's all personal preference in the end.
DanielJr82
Member
Inquisition. I enjoyed the combat more, the world felt more realized, and the menu was easier to go through. I think the story and characters are equally good on both.
Jibbajabbawockky
Member
I think it depends on what you're looking for.
Inquisition is ok. It came out when there weren't any big "AAA" budget RPGs out there, so I think that greatly helped people's impressions of it. It's also a game that on first glance is stuffed with content and beautiful visuals. So it makes a nice fist impression.
Its after you get into the game for a bit and the novelty of the pretty visuals wears off that the banality of so many of the systems starts to wear on you. What was fun and cool 3 hours into the game becomes an absolute grind when you're doing the same exact collectable thing with very little reward about 60 hours in. Its technically got a lot of content, its just that its all super shallow and repetitive. Add in how the story starts strong and then just kind of skitters all over the place and just ends rather abruptly and my impressions of the game by the end were a lot more negative than maybe about 1/3rd of the way in.
The menu? Really? I guess I could see this if you tried to play Origins on console. But comparing the menus of DAO (or even DA2) on PC to the menus and inventory screens of Inquisition? Inquisition's menus are an absolute abomination. Just on PC, they scale everything down so they only show you one or two details at a time, there are next to no pop ups or tooltips, instead having to go digging around through various menu screens to get any details and things like crafting are just a complete pain in the ass.
Its not a bad game, especially if you just want to zone out and grind a bunch of Ubisoft style collectable missions in some pretty wilderness environments but if you want more than that and your typical modern BioWare/ Mass Effect companion interactions, Inquisition doesn't have much more.
Primethius
Banned
Origins and it's not even a contest.
It had the superior combat, characters and story, not to mention side-quests.
And Origin's tactical system wasn't an utter failure like Inquisitions.
The only thing I give Inquisition a nod for is it's beauty over Origins and that's about it.
It had the superior combat, characters and story, not to mention side-quests.
And Origin's tactical system wasn't an utter failure like Inquisitions.
The only thing I give Inquisition a nod for is it's beauty over Origins and that's about it.
Moff
Member
I am definitely surprised, too. back when inquisition was released, people like me who criticized it were definitely in the minority
GGNKovalski
Member
Kind of amazing how split people are on this.
Origins is a 6 for me and Inquisition a 7. So I have a slight preference for Inquisition, which mostly comes down to the gameplay having a slightly better flow and a bit more spectacle in Inquisition. Origins had a better story but was overall clunky, and although Inquisition was pretty vapid, at least no mission dragged as endlessly as the Deep Roads. The characters in DA:I were also I think a bit better realized, and that's the one part where Bioware really shines anyway. Cassandra was a great character, and Iron Bull a lot of fun, all the other characters felt pretty rounded too. From Origins I only remember Alistair being whiny and Morrigan tsundere pandering.
Mass Effect are straight 9-10s for me. But Dragon Age just has B team written all over it.
Mass Effect are straight 9-10s for me. But Dragon Age just has B team written all over it.
Atraveller
Banned
By split you mean Origins by a landslide?
Complistic
Member
Origins all around. Though inquisition is waaaay better than 2. So there's that.
The melee combat in inquisition was so bad that I couldn't play warrior. Which is always my favorite class. I've no idea how they messed that up as bad as they did.
The melee combat in inquisition was so bad that I couldn't play warrior. Which is always my favorite class. I've no idea how they messed that up as bad as they did.
Not by a long shot.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
Yeah, I read through the entire thread and it's easily Origins coming out on top.
Iastfan112
Neo Member
Origins easily. Inquisition wins on graphically(duh), environmental design and openness of questing areas. Everything else goes to Origins.
I found Inquisition's combat annoying due to dumbed down party control mechanics, the UI was frustrating to deal with, and the inventory management to be atrocious as areas that most particularly stuck out in a bad way.
Oh and I also prefer DA 2 over Inquisition. That was a game that I thought got too much hate, with Inquisition I didn't understand why it reviewed that well.
Origins: 9.5/10- Quite possibly my favorite RPG, blended older rpgs with some modern gameplay and quality of life improvements
DA2: 8/10- Loved the characters and side quests were quite fulfilling. Main story stumbled at the finish but otherwise enjoyed it. Let down by bad encounter design and environment reuse
Inquisition: 7/10- Beautiful and still liked the characters but way to many frustrations outside that to match up to the previous two. I didn't hate it but I feel no real desire to replay the game either.
I found Inquisition's combat annoying due to dumbed down party control mechanics, the UI was frustrating to deal with, and the inventory management to be atrocious as areas that most particularly stuck out in a bad way.
Oh and I also prefer DA 2 over Inquisition. That was a game that I thought got too much hate, with Inquisition I didn't understand why it reviewed that well.
Origins: 9.5/10- Quite possibly my favorite RPG, blended older rpgs with some modern gameplay and quality of life improvements
DA2: 8/10- Loved the characters and side quests were quite fulfilling. Main story stumbled at the finish but otherwise enjoyed it. Let down by bad encounter design and environment reuse
Inquisition: 7/10- Beautiful and still liked the characters but way to many frustrations outside that to match up to the previous two. I didn't hate it but I feel no real desire to replay the game either.
Intheflorsh
Banned
DA2 is better than both. Inquisition's combat and story are just awful, and Origins is too dry for my tastes.
While Origins was technically janky in parts it was ultimately brilliant and had enough of the old Bioware magic left in it to make it something special. I haven't played Inquisition but everything I hear about it tells me to tread with extreme caution though I definitely still want to check it out at some point. Probably I'll pick it up when it's super cheap just to have a look.
Also:
Also:
Origins by a country mile. The MMO bloat design of Inquisition starts to show at least 40 hours before the end of the game and it gets tedious as hell. Origins also has a much better cast of characters and the combat system while slow by today's standards is miles deeper than the only 8 abilities and no cures here's potions shit that is Inquisition.
This is basically how I feel. I was really disappointed by inquisition.
PoweredBySoy
Banned
Bioware knocked it out of the park with Inquistion. I love and miss the old-school tactics and AI scripts of Origins, but Inquisition did a pretty great job with speeding up the gameplay and making it fun. And considering the amount of content in that game got me to 80 hours on a single playthrough (while still skipping huge portions of zones), I'm glad the combat is faster.
Origins > Inquisition? Laughable.
Origins > Inquisition? Laughable.
Shai-Tan
Banned
I do think I prefer tactical combat (I think it gets muddled when talking about Origins because the console version is lacking the control pc players got) but I also like action rpg like Dragons Dogma. I think they just haven't found a good identity for the combat. I actually enjoyed the combat in Dragon Age 2 more than Inquisition (I played it immediately before inquisition) but that also has a lot of faults that may in part a consequence of trying to satisfy what they imagine everyone wants (rather than make the game they want to play). I don't think they need to make it into a responsive action game (like Dragons Dogma which has many of the faults of inquisition AND storytelling that makes inquisition seem like an act of genius in comparison yet the combat and encounters are fun so it didn't matter) because there are plenty of games that use abstraction well but if they do there should be something interesting or tactical about it. They have never had the best combat in either Dragon Age or Mass Effect compared to some of the other games in those genres so maybe it's expecting too much to get what Bioware does well in a mechanically sound package. It seems like they have become a little too ambitious for the limited time EA gives them to make these games.
The combat is literally holding a mouse button down until the target explodes into a billion excessive particle effects.
If that is fun, then video games are so fucked.
I really wish Dragon Age Inquisition combat was fun with some classes. I'd like to go back to that game for the graphics but couldn't do it with the gameplay as a starting archer. Didn't like the group control either so not sure if it's possible, maybe as a warrior it'd be better...
Maybe with mods.
Sorry op, still haven't fired up origins.
Maybe with mods.
Sorry op, still haven't fired up origins.
I was genuinely shocked when I found out you were restricted to eight abilities. I've played RPGs where that's the case and it bothered me but I still enjoyed them. But that's totally not what I would expect from a Bioware RPG. In fact I was thinking that DA:I might finally be the game I could play that wouldn't limit me in this way but I guess I was wrong.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Origins for me by miles and miles. Inquisition felt like a grind-fest compared to DA:O, had the better story, characters, gameplay, etc. Overall a much better game.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
DA:I is a far better Elfroot Picking Simulator though.
Origins had much better gameplay and you actually had to use strategies with good positioning to win. Scope wise there was actually cities to explore compared to what DAI offered. Orlais is basically a bunch of corridors, how shameful. Out of the 3 games nothing is quite good as Denerim. Dungeons were actually better in DAO too. DAO is ugly as sin though.
DAI offered large explorable areas without loading screens and really nice graphics. The home base was also fun for what it was. Gameplay was basically an update on Mass Effect with swords.
DAI offered large explorable areas without loading screens and really nice graphics. The home base was also fun for what it was. Gameplay was basically an update on Mass Effect with swords.
Inquisition. I love wandering the world picking up bits of lore, and the cast is my favourite in Bioware's games, ME2 excepted. Neither Origins nor DAI have particularly amazing storylines, and neither has stellar gameplay, it's clunky in both titles. But I love games that have strong characters, exploration and random dungeons to find, party-based combat and tons of customisation, and a world that is rich in lore. Origins had a great cast, but I just prefer Inquisition's (Solas, Cassandra, Dorian, Cole especially), and I felt very hemmed in throughout Origins.
Oh for sure, you honestly never really know what you're going to get in a BioWare game in terms of gameplay systems or even art direction. This is especially true for Dragon Age where we've seen the game go through three different iterations of gameplay and character race appearances (elves and qunari come to mind as shifting in look drastically from one game to another). DA2 was definitely a complete 180 from what Origins was but you can see they dialed that down in Inquisition and sort of combined things from the first two games. For the future of the series I can definitely see them tweaking it more or outright changing it again. BioWare has a formula that they stick to that a lot of people have come to expect, and some people, not right or wrong on this matter, don't ever see them being as good as they were pre-EA (and especially as good as Knights of the Old Republic or BG2). I'm not of the same mind, personally, I love the worlds they create and I look to BioWare for a certain "experience". EA's urge to push out a game in a quick matter did DA2 no favors, but thankfully they regained some footing in my opinion with DA:I and hopefully the next Mass Effect where they were given more time to flesh things out. It's by no means perfect, but I hold no grudge against Inquisition and didn't feel burned by my purchase in any way, shape or form.
hemtae
Member
Combat wise Origins wins by a long shot. It doesn't have the depth of BG1/BG2 but there was some tactics involved (which would have been better realized by non-shit encounter design). Inquisition meanwhile gives a clear sign that Bioware has no interest in returning to the tactical combat of the IE games and wants to go full on action combat but because of the series roots the went with some hybrid thing that doesn't satisfy anyone. Origins had some really nice C&C while Inquisition had some nice stuff early in the game, it never really lived up to it. Companion wise, I'd go with Inquisition but not by much. Crafting is the only clear improvement I see from Origins to Inquisition even if the resource gathering needs to be rethought.
Origins for sure. It was just more interesting overall. Inquisition was still a good game, but it wasn't a good "open world RPG" if that makes sense.
They got so excited about building these huge areas for the first time that they forgot that you need to fill them with interesting content and narrative hooks to get the player to WANT to explore them. The biggest disappointment for me was that I made it through the main story and a good half of the zones aren't even utilized in it at all....what?! Just a complete waste. Their absolutely pathetic side content (outside of the companion quests as usual) was definitely not a valid substitute to get me excited about exploring these regions.
They got so excited about building these huge areas for the first time that they forgot that you need to fill them with interesting content and narrative hooks to get the player to WANT to explore them. The biggest disappointment for me was that I made it through the main story and a good half of the zones aren't even utilized in it at all....what?! Just a complete waste. Their absolutely pathetic side content (outside of the companion quests as usual) was definitely not a valid substitute to get me excited about exploring these regions.
It's really hard for me to understand how you could think DA2 is better. That game is basically filled with flaws and frustrating designs. The waves of monsters that come from the ceiling and walls, the 4-5 same repeated areas, the lame town that doesn't change over the years, the sociopaths party members, the dumb spammy combat, the ugly ass environments and characters and the boring plot that they couldn't flesh out without having both sides being right and wrong at the same time.
The lore is usually the redeeming characteristic of Bioware games whether you like the gameplay or not but in DAII the lore is not even interesting.
Nah man, the Fade was great game design./s
Maintenance
Member
Origins, without a doubt. It was a failed attempt at being a Baldur's Gate successor, but even then it is better since Inquisition failed as a RPG.
I agree with others posters too, I'll take DA2 over DA:I, and I think DA2 is crap. The cast in DA:I was meh too.
I agree with others posters too, I'll take DA2 over DA:I, and I think DA2 is crap. The cast in DA:I was meh too.
Origins in every way. Inquisition is still a great game with too much padding, and the sequel that should have followed the original.
They both have their issues with narrative, The Fade, collectathon elements.
Anyone who says "DA2 was better" is taking crazy pills or forgot what that game was like entirely and is letting their distaste for DAI speak for them
They both have their issues with narrative, The Fade, collectathon elements.
Anyone who says "DA2 was better" is taking crazy pills or forgot what that game was like entirely and is letting their distaste for DAI speak for them
I'm actually replaying Origins right now, and I would definitely pick it over Inquisition. I enjoyed Inquisition, but I think Origins still beats it in every category except art style. On PC at least, the controls and UI are much better, and playing on nightmare I actually have to use the tactical camera and take each fight multiple times to change up my tactics. It's not perfect, and the combat in something like Pillars of Eternity beats it, but it's still much better than combat in Inquisition, which even on the hardest difficulty I never found very interesting. And I didn't feel that making it more open world really added significantly to it. The quests in Inquisition mostly felt like filler.
I enjoy the characters in both, but I think they were actually used better in Origins.
I'd like to see more of that.
Origins does have a really bland art style, though. Credit where credit is due, Inquisition vastly improved the visuals, both technically and artistically (except for the darkspawn, god, that redesign is still garbage).
I enjoy the characters in both, but I think they were actually used better in Origins.
Your relationship with Alistair and Morrigan actually tied significantly into the plot of the game from the landsmeet onward and could significantly impact the ending of the game.
Origins does have a really bland art style, though. Credit where credit is due, Inquisition vastly improved the visuals, both technically and artistically (except for the darkspawn, god, that redesign is still garbage).
What difficulty do you choose ?
Anyway, DAI over DAO for me without any doubt.
DA2 better than DAI ? Probably you only played one of them.
Origins was a taunt, engaging experience that was clearly put together by a group of developers with a love for RPGs and still stand on its own today as a great game.
Inquisition is an adequate story hampered by an overabundance of cookie cutter side quests that feels like it was put together by people collecting a paycheck. I'm still kind of in awe that it won GOTY by anyone's measure.
Inquisition is an adequate story hampered by an overabundance of cookie cutter side quests that feels like it was put together by people collecting a paycheck. I'm still kind of in awe that it won GOTY by anyone's measure.