Complaint about Some Game Mechanics

@gutch777

This is mostly a player/user board. Very few people that work for EA come to these boards.

Regarding tactics, there is a tactics screen where you can see the whole lay out of the field of battle and assign actions to your party. It varies how to activate it by system, and if you forget how to activate it, you can replay the opening with the tutorial. I'm not sure what you mean by only 4 choices though. Have you not chosen additional feats/skills for your companions? You can have up to 8 per companion (I believe). You can also pause if you don't like the tactics view (I don't) and assign moves/powers/feats for each of your companions to use too.

Regarding healing, You can upgrade the number of potions you carry to 12 later in the game as you gain reputation points to spend at the war table. There is the Revival spell in the spirit skill tree, and knight enchanters have Resurgence once you can use focus skills. There are also the Rejuvenation potions that continuously heal you a certain amount that you can make and carry with you.

Unfortunately, there's not much to be done with the companion AI, but you can always control them and move them into position, or pause the game and give them a command to move to a certain place, thus avoiding hazards like fire.

Different enemies have different difficulties based on when you encounter them. If you want something to be more difficult, choose a trial or head to a place that the recommended level is slightly above your current level.

I hope this helps you to enjoy the game a bit more. 

I imagine they got rid of the tactics menu because it wouldn't be compatible with the 8 ability limit, which is a whole problem of its own. In my opinion the 8 ability limit is the worst thing that happened to Dragon Age.

As for your health potion situation, you can upgrade to twelve. I also recommend using the healing mist grenade, which you can get from a massive spider called Snowball in Crestwood.

Unfortunately BioWare removed their forum, so I don't know the best place to post feedback. You can try twitter.

Below I have provided screen shots of the Behaviors and Tactics screens. I hadn't played in about 6 months before writing my last comment, so on a hunch (Because I was pretty sure Inquisition had one) I opened it up and took a look. Also, in Tactics, my character is able to use a skill that is not in my 8 skill slots while I'm not controlling her. I hope this helps both of you.

I mean that the tactics system isn't nearly as robust as the ones from the other two games. It's just there to disable or enable some powers, but 'tactics' is a misnomer in this case.

@Fred_vdp

Actually, you can set them to also use abilities more than others by making them preferred. Behaviors coupled with tactics is quite similar to the tactics in Origins. I get that it's not exactly the same, but if it were the game wouldn't have been advancing. I'm not really trying to argue. I'm just pointing out some things that can be easily missed. Like I said, I only pointed these things out to help others enjoy the game a bit more.

I have a damn complaint. My game ended Abruptly saying some bull about TEMPLARS killing everyone. You know after that * level you guys copied from sucky Shivering ISLES from Oblivion??  ESCAPE THE FOREST *??  Well I got to the top of where templars were killing everyone and without dying my game ended.  I will look at videos on youtube on how to get past it but if this don't work someones refunding this game.  And dont accuse me of GRAVEDIGGING its an idiotic theory.

@Brewen23

You'd be better off creating a new thread about this. Also, we are not game creators nor EA employees here. We're players, just like you. Which quest is it that you're having problems with?

S, It has been a while since I last wrote about my complaints and I think it right to just come back after finishing the game and all of its dlc (around 125 hours later) and just update my complaints. I would like to acknowledge the replies trying to be of help.

1. Tactics system. By God, it is THE worst. Hell, even DA2 had a more robust version. Yes, I am well aware that I can set my preferred moves for characters. Here is the thing though: it only applies to skills I have in my skills bar (a ridiculously small number in my opinion). Meaning that for my mage, I need to have dispel and revive in the toolbar to use them, leaving me only 6 for offensive actions. Add the 1 slot for barrier and you have 5 slots for attack magic, a paltry amount and frankly does not leave you with enough dps skills for an important part of your group. The more I played, the more frustrated I felt because I couldn't tell my range classes to STAY AT RANGE!! the amount of times they ran in and stood next to a mob is frustratingly frequent. A problem that would have been solved with the DA:O tactics system. And again, yes, I know they need to innovate (whatever that means). But that does not mean limiting and removing features that even the worst game in the trilogy, DA2, had.

2. Health potions. I found the upgrades for the health potions, giving me a total of 12 potions.... for 4 people.... I will admit, I gave EVERYONE 5 HoT potions and 3 healing grenades, which is a waste. I should not have to utilise every slot to ensure that my group has enough potions so that I can sortie for a longer period of time. And you can point to 'resource management' all you want, this game doesn't deserve that category. Otherwise there would be a use for the extra logging stations and quarries that I found or even the agents that I recruit (besides reducing the time my 3!! main agents spend doing their missions). And the power is stupid high. Had over 200 at the end of the damn game, it was useless after a certain, especially for completionists like myself. And can I just point out that I find the reason for the exclusion of health spells absolute BS?

"With this emphasis on proactive action instead of reactive action the decision of who to protect with barrier can be much more complex and interesting than it can be for normal healing. This makes the barrier support role much more interesting to play as." (http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ChristopherGile/20141222/233078/Dragon_Age_Inquisition_and_the_removal_of_Heal.php) Are you fudging high? The barrier has a high cooldown that only is slightly alleviated if you spec the CD reduction whenever a barrier gets destroyed. Even then, it is frustratingly slow to use. And all you do then is replace on mage with another mage, with the new 'role' being worse than the old one. Because at least with the old mage I can trust my healer to keep me alive. Additionally you need to have someone in the party the can dispel the barrier, otherwise you end up with taking down the barrier down only for the mob to instantly put it back up again because its skill had reset its CD. Do I like the concept of barrier? Yes, I do. But I think it is poorly executed. Same with Guard. You either have a member that tear it down or you chip it away only for it to come back instantly. I prefer the old system, which is a lot harder and a lot more tense, as you teeter on the edge of dying after being slammed with an attack, not this new one, where it is just multiple rounds of up and down with your guard or barrier without doing any real damage to your enemies.

3 Companion Ai. Yeah, still horrible. And I don't know why, but sometimes they would have to chug a potion when walking down mountains. And I don't mean off the beaten path. Nope, just walking down the path when suddenly you see and hear that 'XX is under attack' only to find nothing wrong and no one attacking you. Ah, and the same applies to random mobs too. Sometimes they get falling damage and put you into combat, which you can' leave until you either kill the mob or run the hell from it.

And there you have my update on the grievance i first mentioned. Now I do have some more to add: as a PC player, this combat was less than ideal. Having to hold down the mouse or R key to attack an enemy feels too much like a console port, as with the frankly disappointing tactical camera. Seriously, I'm sure Iron Bull's head i higher of the ground than this camera.... Skill points felt useless after lvl 18 up, not adding much. Crafting was an interesting idea, but the so few weapon and armour models are just boring.

All in all, I found the game... Okay. The combat felt boring and frustrating, because I know what it once was and it just feels like such a step backwards. Hell, I'd even rate DA2 combat higher, and that's simply because it actually pretended to damn care. But if you love the deep combat of Dragon Age: Origins, you will not enjoy this combat. Honestly, come for the visual effects and story of Dragon Age Inquisition, but don't bother with the combat. It just isn't worth it.

PS.: Your Revenants are just horrible in DA:I. There was nothing dreadful about any of them. Such a damn disappointment....

Brewen....sorry, you missed that there was a countdown timer that limited the amount of time you were allowed to be outside of the Hall where the Templars were fighting.  If the timer expired you lost, cause all the Templars who were helping you died, and you failed the mission to recruit them.  You have to go back to the hall BEFORE the timer expires, by either backtracking or completing the recruitment of one of the Sargents you were looking for.

This is one of a only a few areas where there is a timer involved, don't really like it because it isn't in most other places and it annoying to me to go from explore at will to GRR, HURRY UP OR YOU LOSE..,,but it is what it is.

Gutch....

I agree for the most part...the Tactics were disappointing when you remember DA: O...sad to see the button mashers get their way so much.

Healing potions...well, I play on normal difficulty, and with a rogue, 2 mages and a tank in the party, I almost never use them.  I did spec to 12 potions, the healing mists and the rejuv potions on most characters, but rarely used them outside of Dragons and even then only if I was pushing the levels a bit fighting them.  Between the Barrier spell, guard from the tank, and the total destruction a Necro mage(who also gets healing from kills) outputs, fighting generally didn't last long enough to need them.  I didn't have Focus on the hotbar for the Inquisitor for 99% of the game, and rarely used it even with the others.  I didn't have dispel or revive on the Inquisitor either, just Barrier, lightning and Necro.  You want to see a quick battle, be in the deep roads, have deep stalker dinos rush you in a pack of 20...cast Virtulant Walking Bomb, then chain Lightning, then Lightning bolt on the infected one......BOOM...bomboomboomboom..fight over... Cassandra with warhorn(horn ability on left) spec'd to give guard to party means plenty of "health" that made fights easy. 

AI...didn't have much issue with Companion AI..yeah had some WTF moments, but I have always seen that in games dating back to first AIs so I kinda expect it.  I just try to set my limited Tactics in such a way to limit the chuggin of potions for stupid reasons and simply let them get in a fight and heal from kills.

As far as normal combat difficulty, yeah, not anything to worry about much if you know much about the game.  Hardest fight IIRC was the Frost Giant..one shot kills on companions, max level, and just something you walk up on in the DLC...