Or is it still mostly "hold button" to kill stuff...sweeping generalization I know, but is it any better in inquisition?

It's pretty much the same. Mash Right Trigger to attack, juggle cooldowns.

Also Tactical View is jacked.

Neither of them are really like that at all if you play on a harder difficulty level.

I'd pass on Inquisition though tbh, it's shit.

The combat is definitely better. It has a similar basic feel but based on the fact that enemies don't spawn in all around you all the time it's way better. Positioning matters more and that matters a lot to a real tactical game. I think they do a good job with the abilities. Not everything is balanced but it's all pretty fun and allows for flexibility. Some of the abilities really will change your character and how they play, especially when you specialize, which is satisfying.

The tactical view has it's uses but I play on hard and only use it when position is an issue (mostly telling mages to get the hell away from enemies). I don't think how the game plays lends itself as well to a tactical camera as Origins did but I think you could use it a lot and be effective. I think the game feels much more fluid and like an action game, rather than Origins more turn based feel. I'm sure you could use the tactical cam more than I do, I just don't much myself, even on hard. I play on PC and use a controller.

If you play RPGs, I think you should definitely play the game on Hard at least.

So overall I like the combat and I had big issues with 2. My biggest issue with Inquisition is that it didn't give us the same level of AI customization that Origins did (which I was a huge fan of).

EDIT: I almost forgot the potion issue, which also is quite annoying. You're mostly reliant on potions for healing in this game and there is a max you can have at any time. Becomes less of an issue as you go (you get more options for healing and you can upgrade how many potions you have) but I do think it's an unnecessary addition. Just let me have a healer.

i think that the combat is better,and its also the best game in the series.

Yes as you don't have to mash the same button over and over to continue to attack, instead you just hold the right trigger.

I don't like the combat, but I didn't really have a problem with DA2's combat. I enjoyed that game's combat system. I think DA:O is very tactical, DA:I is very loose and almost automatic, and DA2 was a good mix of the two.

@jimbo: Shut your lying lie hole, you lying liar!

It's similar, but I never found myself able to just mash through the combat in either.

It certainly feels better. Dragon Age 2 felt pretty slidey, whereas Inquisition's got more heft. You feel like you're actually on the ground instead of just above it.

It's pretty much the same, but the game is still superb, so... Also @corevi you don't 'mash' it, you just have to hold right trigger and you attack, then you tap the normal buttons, and wait for those to charge back up to do it again.

For a mage, I think it's worse.

You don't have AI tactics so they basically play themselves. Its worse.

Yeah. It's not much better.

It actually feels a lot less responsive. When you queued up a move in DA2, it would happen almost instantly. In DA:I, it feels like there's some lag after you click an attack and sometimes your characters won't even do it if you're in the tactical view. On the bright side, you don't have to fight waves and waves of enemies.

For all the shit DA2 gets, the combat actually felt really good and you were able to execute your tactics/plans just as well as you were able to in DA1. The only problem was the encounters were poorly designed.

Encounters didnt have a ton of variety but DA2 is the best the series has ever played. Its easy to pile on that game because of literally every other choice they made in that game, from only your last choice mattering to not being able to stop anything of significance to the single cave that got used for half the dungeons. But the combat was pretty alright, relative to the first game which didn't have any enemy variety at all and the 3rd game that took away your AI control.

It's slightly better. The game at least cares about positioning this time around.

Also I keep saying it because I know it sounds insane but if you want to use tactical view use a controller. It feels more natural and gives you greater control over the flow of time. It's really fucked but that's the way it is.

It's really close to the combat in DA2 (though it "feels" a little better in my opinion). I guess the fact that it's a much better game in comparison didn't make me dislike it that much.

It also looks really flashy; but yeah, don't expect tactical crpg style if that's what you're thinking...

It's worse.

I'm apparently in the minority though. It's a great game but a terrible Dragon Age game. Plays awfully and has a pretty terrible story, makes up for it with good characters though.

It's kind of wild to me that people hate the combat so much. So far I have finished the game on normal with a kniight-enchanter, tested the waters with 2 different rogues and a 2h warrior, and then committed to a 1h templar for a nightmare run. Between all of those I have about 148 hours played I have never once used the tactical camera outside the tutorial and the only time I switch from my main character is to open class-based doors or if my main guy dies (including on nightmare so far) I'm still not tired of the combat and it's still my go to game whenever I sit down to play. I guess I see how it could be disappointing if you like to micromanage your party but I've never been one for that. I like to play as my character, in real time, with my party there for whatever help the AI can offer + the banter.

I will note that I am one of those people who basically always watches TV or Giant Bomb videos while I game and I find myself skipping through dialogue way more now. Whereas in my first playthrough I had other stuff on way less and when I did I would pause it whenever dialogue/cutscenes started.

Also I played a decent amount of Origins but I really don't remember it well at all and I know I got tired of the combat there and never finished it. I also took a shot at 2 but it lasted maybe a week before I brought it back.

@sterling: Nuh uh, it's true. Even DA2 was better than Paddinquisition.

The combat has almost ruined the game for me. I wasn't a fan of DA2's but this is worse.

I wanted this to be a proper cRPG like Origins but after 30 hours of Inquisition I don't think Bioware are willing/able to any more.

Thanks everyone! Seems this game is not for me, too bad, maybe i'll pick it up later on sale or something. After nearly falling asleep during the quick look I think I should look elsewhere to scratch my rpg itch.

@boysef: Probably wise, look towards Divinity if you want a more old school game, look towards... i dunno? Bayonetta 2 if you want better actiony gameplay.

The game's combat isn't as bad as people make it out to be, but it's not very good either. It takes a while to really build up a good arsenal of spells and abilities, so it gets pretty damn repetitive in the beginning. Someone mentioned that positioning actually factors into it, unlike the second game, and that's true. You no longer have to worry about enemies just spawning out of the blue behind you MOST of the time. There were a few strange instances when I was out in the world, and as I was fighting, enemies would just spawn in right there. I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen, but it does.

I largely agree to this except placement was totally important in DA2 also, at least in nightmare it was fraking important...now in this one you have more of a vertical positioning parameter but not as much as one would wish.

I general, this game is good once you play on harder difficulties because then you need to think a bit strategically and optimize your party / equipment. On normal, you just have to hold down R2...the game is liteerally on autpilot, it is ridiculous. On hard, you can be surprised. On nightmare, you have to plan and it is fun (although enemies soak tons of damage before going down and for the 10 first level it is rather tedious sometimes). the tactical camera being what it is (i.e. utter shit) you basically have to build your party for active play, not paused. Once you start doing this, you will realize that the AI is actually pretty decent at handling the cross class combos and can pull them out depending on you AI settings:

no tactical slots totally suck. But all you really must do in this last opus of the serie is disabling the key skills you must control (dispel for example...detonators in general) set the few prefered ones and enable the rest. make sure you limit the amount of stamina one character can use to get enough fuel for manually aiming the disabled skills when you need them, craft your gear and suddenly the combat is actually pretty fun! pausing and manually doing everything is just not how it should be played at all.

bottom line is they did try something in between DAO and DA2 and screwed it up...this is actually much closer to DA2 with badly integrated core mechanics from DAO unfortunately. But then again I loved DA2 and played the hell out of it on nightmare...so I actually love this one too (although I did not before I understood what I just rambled about)

hope this helps

There are some interesting encounters in the main story missions, and the dragons are fun too, but normal encounters around the map are sorta dull. The system itself is pretty similar to the last 2.