The Witcher 3 or Dragon Age Inquisition

I am planning on picking up The Witcher 3 or Dragon Age Inquisition.

I'm leaning towards the The Witcher 3.. but I don't want to write DA:I off.

What should I get and why ?

Amount of content.

How long it'll take me (approximately).....etc.

Stay away from dragon age inquisition. Let me put it real simple, I played both games for over 100 hours. In fact I played Witcher close to 200 hours. Dragon age inquisition is a fetch game, you play as a powerful leader for a new organization that must bring peace to the world. However, you spend nearly the entire game playing the butler, you go from point a to point b, literally picking up supplies for armies and brining it back for rewards. Reward are just exp.

While it seems like the world is huge, it's really plain. It feels like a copy paste. The main quest is quite fun but it's really short. The devs made sure that you can't really focus only on main quest so they purposely put gates (lvl req) so that you have to play their fetch quest. Here is an example of some of their fetch quest that I remember

-collect 75 iron stones to bring back to X, get xl reward

- collect 54 shard so you can open the special door which will give you a incredible belt that you won't use ever because it's not incredible. These shard mind you are across the entire world

-find the buffalo or a horse and lead it back to X person

-every map/zone you have to close X amount of rifts

It feels like a chore playing the game. By the end I was exhausted playing the game. I loved dragon age origins but they ruined this game. I played it because I liked the lore.

Stay with Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 for sure. You can get them both for super cheap on PC though.

Haven't played The Witcher 3 yet, but Dragon Age is a great game either way.

The witcher 3 obliterates DAI, If you are to play one first play DAI coz once you play Witcher 3 you won't be able to stomach inquisition.

Dragon age Inquisition is filled with dull generic fetch quests, where you either Kill something or collect something bioware made zero effort to motivate you into doing them. The world is big but lifeless and static essentially its an offline MMO without joys of an MMO. The main story is fun however and there is a pretty cool twist at the end.

The witcher 3 is basically the new standard as far as RPG, My only gripe is maybe the combat might not appeal to everyone.

So you mean like every other RPG game ever made? even Witcher 3.

Nothing you have said here is different from Dragons Age to Witcher 3 or any other RPG game.

It all comes down to your preference and if you like RPg games i would get both.

For me anyway the witcher 3 at least gives incentives ( good writing & good quest rewards) to hide the "chore" part of RPG's. Dragon age Inquisition does not. For example the witcher 3 has contracts where you kill monsters, these could easily be tedious and boring but they take time to craft a personal unique story behind each one and at times even change the outcome ( for example meeting a sentient monster who had good reasons for killing) Dragon inquisition is just Go kill dragons, close these 75 rifts, or kill these people. The irony is dragon age (IMO) has better lore but fails miserably to capitalize on it.

Hmm, i have only played a bit of Dragon´s age but i think they did a decent job , again imo it all comes down to preference , what do you like.

Also Bioware has always been known to make good stories, so do not recognize your complaints at all.

The main story is good, typical bioware "You are the chosen one, good companions, good dialogue..etc" but the world is really dull, they did the reverse of dragon age 2 where this time the quests/tasks are repeat copy and paste and the areas are varied. Zero effort was put into the side quests, in most cases you have to do the side quests because the main quest is locked behind this thing called "power" so to unlock a main quest that continues the plot you need say 20 power, to get this power you do side quests, its really annoying. Trust me after 20 hours of closing rifts over and over again with no variation it becomes tedious.

But I agree the main quest is fun.

I've not played DA, but The Witcher is not to be missed. It's incredible and one of the best RPGs, not just recently, but ever.

If you can, really try to play it on PC and mod the hell out of it. You can improve things like: instant spell casting with a gamepad, auto loot, improvements to potion/food durations, combat changes that make it much more realistic and brutal, new armor textures, removal of level requirements for equipment, lighting and graphical overhauls, fast travel from anywhere, UI tweaks, and even perv textures if you're into that kind of thing.

Mods really improve it quite a bit. Hell, I'd say they improve it so much that you shouldn't even bother playing until you can mod it. Plus the game looks phenomenal on high settings on a PC.

The quoting in this forum is abysmal.

I might as well expand on what I said in my first post. Every rpg game has a fetch quest and asking you to go from point A to point B. The difference is thr substance on these request, is it motivation based on the story, the rewards, what makes you like it?

Dragon Age inquisition has if I remember correctly 9 zones. When you enter each one, you are greeted by the same message carrier, telling you what items (usually material that you pick up) you must bring back for the inquisition. The amount you need to bring back is around 50+. When you do bring it back, the quest starts again but this time some other materials are needed, you are thank and give minor exp. Go repeat it. One of the biggest fetch quest in the game require you to collect shard across the entire map, more than 4 dozens of these shard. There is little back story to it, and when you do collect it, once more exp is the biggest reward, it gives you a belt that you won't need. Now, this is what the majority of the side quests feel like. Most people will tell you that it's Optional hence called side quests. That's wrong, this game require you do the to advance the main story. The biggest issue is that the main story lines is about 12 missions. If there was no level requirement you can literally finish the game in a few hours.

I played both dragon age 1-2 over 100 hours in multiple replays, in this I could not do it. I finish the entire game and majority of the side quest just so I can finish the story and because some crazy fans of the series told me it gets better. No, quite honestly the best part of the game was the first zone where these fetch quest are happening for the first time hence you fee like its a new experience. It gets quite old as you realize it feels like a chore that the game wants you do to just for the sake of sinking time into it. You look you did 150 hrs in dragon age! No, you spend 9 hours in the main story line and about 60 hours fetch similar items in every zone. This is not to say the side quest are all bad. No, there are some that are nice, there is roughly 1-2 good side quest per zone that are long, and have substance. Now don't get me started in their attempt to copy lord of the rings. I'm shocked their we're not sued on copyright for taking he melody from the movies that pippin sang.

Witcher 3 is a better game hands down. Minor things like hunting monsters has more substance than majority of what dragon age offers.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-inquisition/critic-reviews

Read some reviews from critics, look at some of the common issues they highlight; it's mainly fetch quests. In fact the user review are constantly complaining about it

Played both: definitely Witcher 3 if you want a great RPG with a good story. DA:I if you want mediocre version of same-old Bioware routine.

get the witcher 3. it's not even a contest

as @musalala said, if you plan on playing both, get DAI first because while it is still a good game, it would be much harder to appreciate if you played Witcher 3 first.

If you only plan on playing one, Witcher 3 is the one to get, no question.

Witcher 3 and Divinity Original Sin > Dragon Age Inquisition.

Witcher owns all!

DA:I is very "safe". The story is pretty generic, the characters are all "good choices" to engage with, your choices have only very very superficial effects on the game, and many of them - near as I can tell - don't really manifest until after the game. Personally, I DO find the world interesting, and the lore is enjoyable. The graphics were good, and the settings capture your imagination. But the quests do not.

And the combat is generally too easy and doesn't encourage flexible, sophisticated use of the game's mechanics (which ARE there) - it usually suffices to hold down attack, tossing in an occasional secondary and a heal. Maybe switch to another part member periodically for your own sanity, but that level of control isn't necessary to obtain victory. Overall, I felt like the scaffold was there for excellent combat, but instead it engaged you on the most superficial level.

I recommend, if you play it, to play on a high difficulty level and to use some restraint and skip/ignore many of the fetch quests. They aren't necessary and you can progress by doing only some of them. No need to ferry every piece of ore or what-have-you back and forth across the map. I also recommend moving back and forth between regions to keep variety up.

I was not able to finish the Witcher 3 because I got bored. The world is huge and beautiful but there is not much to it outside of treasures that will most likely be beyond your level for quite sometime. The funny this is that Dragon Age Inquisition is plagued with the same problem but mysteriously everyone only sees it in Dragon Age:I. The Witcher 3 is very story heavy more so than DA:I and depending on your play style and preference, one will be more interesting than the other. If you like being more in control of the story then DA:I is the game to pick. If you like experiencing a story of a specific character then The Witcher 3 is the place to go. I personally enjoyed the combat and the story in DA:I more than The Witcher 3. I am more of an explorer player and the Witcher 3 penalizes the player for exploring by capping non sanction monster kills, making your XP sidequest and story locked. The Witcher 3 has a couple strong sidequest which demonstrated the possibilities of what sidequest can be but then you will not experience any further innovation in the sidequest after the first few. Ideally you should try to play both.

Witcher III is far superior in almost every single way.

The Witcher 3.

I actually prefer Inquisition as an RPG and game as whole. Witcher 3's side quests bored me fast as it's game mechanics were lacking. It's no good having a big huge world when you just follow glowing tracks and dodge slash the monster to death when you find it.

Inquisition combat did have it's share of silly bits, the rogue tempest class is way overpowered and makes all other classes pale in the single player game. The dragon fights are dramatic but they show off your companions AI shortcomings pretty fast. You need to micromanage on them which would be a good thing if it wasn't for how fiddly and quick to forget your orders the companions become.

Witcher 3, go for it. Dragon Age: Inquisition, I got bored with it when I play it on PS4 last year November but however, Inquisition is on EA Access if you have it, so I say get Witcher 3 and try Inquisition on EA Access.

Both are good but the witcher 3 is an overall better game.

It looks like The Witcher 3 wins in here.

I'll get it then.

I'll probably pick up DAI a year from now.

@Evil_Saluki: I thought using abilities to track was much better than looking at the map to see exactly where to go

In my case I got with both but if got only money for one then buy TW3, no question there.

@acp_45: Your defiantly not gonna regret buying Witcher 3. Witcher 3 is my all time favorite game that I totally enjoy and it was engaging storytelling I played in a long time. Like I said, if you have EA Access on Xbox One, you can play Inquisition anytime, so EA Access is the way to go.

I don't think that I could really pick one over the other. They are both excellent games, you wouldn't go wrong with picking either one and should definitely try to get both eventually.

Both games are great but i prefer the witcer 3

Dragon Age Inquisition was absolute garbage. The Witcher 3 is at the very least more interesting, and proves that other media iterations can be phenomenal without losing quality of the source material, but in fact embellishes and makes better.

Dragon Age Inquisition.

i think Inquisition is one of the worst games Bioware has ever put out

witcher 3 without a doubt. I got bored of Dragon age at the very start. Witcher 3 is also a bit slow and boring near the start also but does suck you in eventually.

Only thing i missed for witcher 3 was you couldn't create your own character, and i also wish you had more companions for the game instead of having to play the game mostly solo with only occasionally being able to team up with people. Thats where dragon age maybe is better since you can create a character and have a team the entire time your playing.

Witcher 3 represents a new standard of RPG gaming, it's a great story beautifully told where you can find many different nuances. I thought DA:I was pretty good until I played Witcher 3. DA:I is all about telling an Epic story in a fantasy world, Witcher 3 is all about telling personal stories of interesting people and while the scale smaller the impact is much greater.

I haven't played Dragon Age but The Witcher 3 is barely a game. If you enjoy watching cut-scenes and bland gameplay when you do get to control anything it is the "game" for you but I feel you would have to be very liberal with the definition of a game to call it a game at all.

I bought The Witcher 3 last night off the PSN! I sampled DA a few months back, I thought it was "OK", I just didn't like the combat system.

The Witcher 3 fits my playing style better.

what? I guess everyone has their own opinions, but the cutscenes are both great and very sparse IMO. Oh well

@xantufrog:

Well these are more like first impressions as I just got the game. It wouldn't surprise me if the game to cut-scene ratio gets better later but in my first hours long session with the game it felt like there were mere minutes of actual gameplay. Anyway does anyone know where I can buy/get a warhammer? I doubt the scrawny main dude I'm stuck with could even lift one but it is my weapon of choice. I also feel I should buy some horse armor after seeing what happened to that other guys horse :)

I bought both. I didn't play neither. So there's that...

@tolwyn: The main character is stronger than most humans, so he wouldn't have any trouble with a warhammer. I don't remember if you can use any though - there are clubs, shovels, all sorts of things, but probably not two-handed warhammers.

Oh, and you can definitely upgrade your horse's equipment.