[Zojokkeli]

Recently got Far Cry 4 and I have to say I'm enjoying it quite a bit more than I did Far Cry 3. While the story is still silly, at least the missions are mostly enjoyable and the characters aren't nearly as ridiculous. Gameplay is mostly the same and the change in setting doesn't really reflect in any meaningful way.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Dragon Age Origins was an amazing game that I replayed 4 times in almost a row. Dragon Age two was a game I barely managed to finish (it was more pain than pleasure, the only thing I liked was using a specific magic combo that dragged everyone to me, then a ground slam, then an explosion that sent everyone flying away).
Allow me to explain: Dragon Age 1 was new, everything had to be learned from 0, and once you did, you felt powerfull because not only the characters were stronger, but becasue your control and understanding of them was higher as well.
In dragon age 2, you start from scratch again, with new characters and new spells/skills.
This would be ok if youd get the same character intro and story and tutorial etc as in the first game.
In dragon age 2, its like: you know all there is to know, but everything is different now, but you still should know.
I dont see much of a point to call the game dragon age 2 when there is so little correlation with the first game.
Im gonna take my time before I consider dragon age inquisition, as it seems yet another story almost by itself.
 
The older games you mentioned are so so for me. I tried all hitmans and still love 47 most (main reason is on how the missions work). I played missing link and original HR, so I guess almost everything will already be covered in directors cut, but ill try it anyway. All nice and good, but get boring once you realize that the smartest move is to always use non-lethal takedows since it gives higher XP (from my point of view its harder to use guns and headshots, especially without raising an alarm than to use silent takedows, but ok).
 
Thiefs Ill leave for later. I tried the last one for about 35 seconds before uninstalling it. I might try it someday but it looks like a terrible game. The first thing I did was running after a girl and basically pressing space.... for 30 seconds... Dark Messiah of Might and Magic has a similar part but it looked far better: You knew why you were chasing the ghoul, and that it was important to catch it and that you could actually FAIL. And you had to find the way yourself, and do it fast enough to not loose the ghoul.
So... basicly if you did it, in first try, you felt like you were good. Pressing space while holding W... not so much.

 
Dragon Age: Origins is indeed the most separated game in the franchise.  It covers the fifth blight, while DA2's prologue starts during it and ultimately focuses more on the beginning of the Mage-Templar war.  By the end of DA2, ten years have already passed since the events of Origins.  Inquisition takes place right after DA2, with the Mage-Templar war still ongoing.
 
Inquisition is closely related to DA2, but many characters from Origins can return, and the fate of the protagonist from Origins can be revealed if it wasn't already (I know for sure that if he/she survived Origins and remained a Warden, he/she has a sort of cameo in Inquisition).  Many of your choices from Origins affect Inquisition, and the effects of the fifth blight are still felt.  
 
It seems to me like you're most interested in continuing the story of the protagonist from Origins?  Awakening and Witch Hunt do this, this already covers quite the time span.  People age you know, a new protagonist is needed and one person can't save the world forever. 
 
It's worth noting that DA2 was horribly rushed due to the publishers (EA).  It's development cycle was only a little bit over a year... imagine making a 50 hour RPG in a bit over a year.  Origins on the other hand was in development for 5 or 6 years.  
 
Inquisition, like Origins, has the benefit of not being rushed.  It's still more flawed than Origins though, primarily because the scope and scale have increased so much, so there was more room for error.  However Inquisition has some weird design choices that nobody asked for, such as attributes being leveled up automatically, each party member being limited to using 8 abilities at most during combat, the removal of Creation and Entropy spell trees (though a few spells from each have been moved into new specializations), etc.  It's made on Frostbite 3 engine because EA essentially forces this, but Inquisition makes it obvious that it's really just an FPS engine, and a bad one at that.  BioWare did their best but it's a pretty bad, limited engine.

 

[Change is Good]

I'm still playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, and must say my score remains a solid 9/10... maybe even 9.5/10
 

 
 
 

 

[catspaw]

   
Dragon Age: Origins is indeed the most separated game in the franchise.  It covers the fifth blight, while DA2's prologue starts during it and ultimately focuses more on the beginning of the Mage-Templar war.  By the end of DA2, ten years have already passed since the events of Origins.  Inquisition takes place right after DA2, with the Mage-Templar war still ongoing.
 
Inquisition is closely related to DA2, but many characters from Origins can return, and the fate of the protagonist from Origins can be revealed if it wasn't already (I know for sure that if he/she survived Origins and remained a Warden, he/she has a sort of cameo in Inquisition).  Many of your choices from Origins affect Inquisition, and the effects of the fifth blight are still felt.  
 
It seems to me like you're most interested in continuing the story of the protagonist from Origins?  Awakening and Witch Hunt do this, this already covers quite the time span.  People age you know, a new protagonist is needed and one person can't save the world forever. 
 
It's worth noting that DA2 was horribly rushed due to the publishers (EA).  It's development cycle was only a little bit over a year... imagine making a 50 hour RPG in a bit over a year.  Origins on the other hand was in development for 5 or 6 years.  
 
Inquisition, like Origins, has the benefit of not being rushed.  It's still more flawed than Origins though, primarily because the scope and scale have increased so much, so there was more room for error.  However Inquisition has some weird design choices that nobody asked for, such as attributes being leveled up automatically, each party member being limited to using 8 abilities at most during combat, the removal of Creation and Entropy spell trees (though a few spells from each have been moved into new specializations), etc.  It's made on Frostbite 3 engine because EA essentially forces this, but Inquisition makes it obvious that it's really just an FPS engine, and a bad one at that.  BioWare did their best but it's a pretty bad, limited engine.

It more than that for me...
In the first game, it takes you around 50 minutes to face the first Ogre. In DA2, it takes you 2 minutes.
Id understand that if DA2 was like baldurs gate 2, keeping character level... you know what? Im not even wasting time on talking about it, Im gonna go play BG 1-BG2.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Is the Dragon Age series something you can start playing the most current version and not be lost or should one go back to the first and work through to the latest? 

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Is the Dragon Age series something you can start playing the most current version and not be lost or should one go back to the first and work through to the latest? 

 
One should definitely start at the beginning, especially since Origins is one of the best, least flawed games and most competent RPGs ever made and it's better than Inquisition in a number of ways.  There's no good reason to skip it or its main expansions.  
 
Inquisition is tied heavily to Dragon Age 2, and it incorporates your decisions from Origins very well which is surprising.  Several very important characters from the first two games return as well, and for a character driven franchise, seeing their arc throughout these games is huge.  Furthermore, the main antagonist of Inquisition along with his main subordinate are first revealed in one of the previous Dragon Age games (I won't say which).
 
You'll also get a much better understanding of Inquisition's story if you finished the first two along with the DLC for DA2 and the Witch Hunt expansion for Origins.  If you start with Inquisition you'll not only miss out on one of the best games ever made in Dragon Age: Origins, but every single facet of Inquisition will have significantly less meaning to you. 

 

[Zojokkeli]

Is the Dragon Age series something you can start playing the most current version and not be lost or should one go back to the first and work through to the latest? 

I haven't played the previous games and got along just fine. You might miss some background information about the world etc, but the game does a pretty good job at filling in the blanks. I didn't feel like I missed anything by not playing the first two games.

 

[Phishin Phool]

There is a program called Dragon Age Keep (free) that essentially glosses through the earlier games and allows you to 'quick-pick' some of the decision issues to bring you current and backfill the story/lore or you can simply start it as is and it will give you a default world and story setting.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

I may have to get a hold of this one. Only thing is I don't think my computer is up to snuff....do I dare even suggest getting them for console?

 

[Rhamnetin]

I haven't played the previous games and got along just fine. You might miss some background information about the world etc, but the game does a pretty good job at filling in the blanks. I didn't feel like I missed anything by not playing the first two games.

 
That's because you don't know what you're missing.
 
Quote:

  There is a program called Dragon Age Keep (free) that essentially glosses through the earlier games and allows you to 'quick-pick' some of the decision issues to bring you current and backfill the story/lore or you can simply start it as is and it will give you a default world and story setting.

 
Yeah, the best thing to do however is play the first two and import your characters/decisions into it.
 
Quote:

  I may have to get a hold of this one. Only thing is I don't think my computer is up to snuff....do I dare even suggest getting them for console?

 
Why skip the first two?  I'm aware that the reputation for the second one isn't very good, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't like it.  In my last post I went into as much detail as I could without spoiling anything, but trust me when I say that you're missing out on a lot of significant content by skipping the first two, and the first game is certainly less flawed than Inquisition.  There's no good reason to skip Origins, and any modern PC should run it just fine.  Sure, you can get a basic understanding of the fundamental plot of Inquisition without having played the others, but the fundamental plot is not even the majority of the game, and even this won't be as significant to you if you never played the previous ones, whereas if you played the first two then Inquisition's plot turns will blow your mind.
 
If you're worried about the first one feeling old and clunky, it doesn't.  It feels great by today's standards.  Graphics are fine if you use mods, which I can help you out with.  The second game is only 3 years old and change so it's not actually old.
 
As for the console version of Inquisition, the game was made more controller-friendly than any other game of this type (that is, pause and play RPG) but it's still a very point-and-click intensive game so I'd never play it on a controller.  Otherwise, the console versions just get inferior graphics, 30 FPS lock, and probably less UI options.  

 

[kova4a]

Yeah, Inquisition is pointless to play on a console and also the pc version has controller support so one can jump in with his 360 controller if that's what he desires.
 
Btw, did anyone else try Alchemilla? It' a free Half-Life 2 mod - specifically a Silent Hill mod and from what I played so far it seems to be heavily based on the first Silent Hill game. LIke literally the second minute in the game I was "That's straight from Silent Hill 1"

 

 

[ArmAndHammer]

   
Why skip the first two?  I'm aware that the reputation for the second one isn't very good, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't like it.  In my last post I went into as much detail as I could without spoiling anything, but trust me when I say that you're missing out on a lot of significant content by skipping the first two, and the first game is certainly less flawed than Inquisition.  There's no good reason to skip Origins, and any modern PC should run it just fine.  Sure, you can get a basic understanding of the fundamental plot of Inquisition without having played the others, but the fundamental plot is not even the majority of the game, and even this won't be as significant to you if you never played the previous ones, whereas if you played the first two then Inquisition's plot turns will blow your mind.
 
If you're worried about the first one feeling old and clunky, it doesn't.  It feels great by today's standards.  Graphics are fine if you use mods, which I can help you out with.  The second game is only 3 years old and change so it's not actually old.
 
As for the console version of Inquisition, the game was made more controller-friendly than any other game of this type (that is, pause and play RPG) but it's still a very point-and-click intensive game so I'd never play it on a controller.  Otherwise, the console versions just get inferior graphics, 30 FPS lock, and probably less UI options.  

What I meant when I said "I may have to get a hold of this one" was the whole series starting with Origins. I didn't mean just getting Inquisition. Just in case that's what you thought I was saying...just wanted to clarify. And thanks for the help offer. I'm not exactly computer savvy and I've never really played PC games other than WoW so really getting heavy into games is something I've not done. Mods and all that stuff...over my head. I've just always been a console gamer and I enjoy it for the most part but I get bored pretty easy. My current computer is about 5 years old. I was pretty sweet when I first built it but has since slowed quite a bit. I've been wanting to build something new...nothing mind blowing but an upgraded version of what I have now. Maybe this will be a little push to finally get it done. Then I can clear this one out and start fresh with it and turn it into my photo processing computer that I wanted to build for my photography mini-studio I'm working on.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Downloading Steam...Origins next. Might take awhile, my internet kinda sux.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Yeah, Inquisition is pointless to play on a console and also the pc version has controller support so one can jump in with his 360 controller if that's what he desires.
 
Btw, did anyone else try Alchemilla? It' a free Half-Life 2 mod - specifically a Silent Hill mod and from what I played so far it seems to be heavily based on the first Silent Hill game. LIke literally the second minute in the game I was "That's straight from Silent Hill 1"

 
I downloaded it the other day, haven't gotten around to it yet.  I think I'll get to it very soon!
 
Quote:

  What I meant when I said "I may have to get a hold of this one" was the whole series starting with Origins. I didn't mean just getting Inquisition. Just in case that's what you thought I was saying...just wanted to clarify. And thanks for the help offer. I'm not exactly computer savvy and I've never really played PC games other than WoW so really getting heavy into games is something I've not done. Mods and all that stuff...over my head. I've just always been a console gamer and I enjoy it for the most part but I get bored pretty easy. My current computer is about 5 years old. I was pretty sweet when I first built it but has since slowed quite a bit. I've been wanting to build something new...nothing mind blowing but an upgraded version of what I have now. Maybe this will be a little push to finally get it done. Then I can clear this one out and start fresh with it and turn it into my photo processing computer that I wanted to build for my photography mini-studio I'm working on.

 
Cool, sorry for the misunderstanding.  Thankfully installing mods for DA:O and DA2 is quite easy; pretty much every mod will come with detailed installation instructions, but most of them involve simply dragging and dropping files/folders into My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age Origins\packages\core\override, or My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age 2\packages\core\override for DA2.
 
I encourage using the mods listed here:
 
http://www.gnd-tech.com/threads/64003-Dragon-Age-Origins-Essential-Mods
 
There's only one graphics mod listed but it shouldn't make the game much harder to run, so your PC should be able to handle it all.  You may or may not want to use Combat Tweaks: it makes the game much harder and more tactical, more like traditional RPGs.  The rest are necessities though.  
 
DA2 mods are listed in that thread too, but do not use the texture packs!  I don't think a 5 year old PC can handle them.  Your PC definitely can't handle Inquisition, so you'll either want to upgrade your PC or get it on console.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Thanks for that. Seems easy enough. Pretty much the same way WoW used to be before Curse came out.
 
And is Steam the best place to DL from for Origins? Or does it matter. It's the same price there as it is on Amazon or GameStop. Those are the only places I looked. I didn't see any of the other Dragon Age titles on Steam though, only Origins.