Dragon Age Inquisition or the Witcher 3?

I think the Risen games (or any of PB's work) are more comparable to Witcher 3 than Inquisition. Inquisition was going for the single player MMO thing, which I feel is different beast.

Dragon Age is solid but it doesn't come close to the Witcher, nor does any other Western RPG at least in the past 10 years or so.

@mb: I have played Witcher III just turned it off in fact. But I just don't care about the characters or world or lore as much as I do in Dragon Age. Seeing cameos from Hawke and Alistar and others in DA:I had the fangirl in me squealing. Every time something similar happens in Witcher III its sort of an "Oh, ok he must have been in a previous game"

The one thing I think Witcher does do really well is the monster contract missions. Those are pretty interesting. On the whole I prefer mostly everything about Dragon Age. Origins is my 2nd favorite game of all time and Inquisition is about as close to that as I'll ever get to that again with EA looming over Bioware these days.

So I guess I'm in the rare position of STILL PLAYING dragon age. I rented the witcher for a couple days, played about ten hours, thought it seemed great and certainly better written but I did feel the desire to go back to my 60 hour dragon age save before I buy Witcher and really go balls deep with it. This poll is a little unfair since everyone is currently playing the witcher and obviously hipped up on it. Wait a couple months for contrarian opinions to take root and make this poll again.

I think most people playing DA on normal is a huge mistake. Although the tactical view is not as good as it was in origins, it is at least competent and adds a significant challenge to the game. At this point I'm pretty used to commanding my crew around, and having tailored my own effective strategies for my main party is really satisfying. I think I might be the only person who actually finds Dragon Age's combat to be a real highlight of the whole game.

Dragon Age Inquisition is a giant mess and is more like an MMO with a slightly better storyline than an RPG with interesting mechanics. It's an awful game.

@horseman6: This, exactly.

But that's the thing, Origins was a tightly paced (apart from the Fade and Deep Roads) linear story driven RPG experience and they just completely turned that around in Inquisition to an open collect-a-thon MMO style RPG. Which I think is mainly a reaction to Skyrim's huge success. Which is weird because I never felt like that with Skyrim. Even in Dragon Age 2 it was still linear and very story focused. Inquisition doesn't feel like a sequel to those 2 games.

Witcher 3 so far feels a lot more akin to Rockstar games, Red Dead Redemption to be exact. Wonky Havoc engine-style character animations and all.

I really enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition but so far this is in a different league.

It feels like a polished open world game (like a Rockstar one) meets an open RPG. Where Dragon Age felt like a big open and super clunky RPG. I really liked Dragon Age through different quests, just as a big open game I think it was very stiff and the content wasn't worth it. It was just more of what has come before with RPGs (and not the best of that) vs Witcher 3 feels like a legit step forward. DA is good but Witcher 3 is special so far. Witcher 2 was one of my favorite games ever so I'm not surprirsed at the quality, but I didn't know what to expect with them doing an open world game.

Pretty much exactly what I put in my post. I think this is being under appreciated about the game. I'm a giant Rockstar fan so I'm thrilled that this turned out to be the feel of the game. Personally, seeing someone mesh that with a legit RPG (that seems deeper to me so far than the past entries) is pretty crazy. I love the physics and movement too because it makes me feel like a real person in that world. You adjust to the weight shortly and after that when you pull something off, you feel actually "athletic" for having done so. This happened big time in Max Payne 3 for me. I love it after Witcher 2 where you rolled around like a mad man and the whole thing felt weightless.

Anyways, the atmosphere is the best I've seen in an open game since Red Dead, which was a masterpiece as far as that goes. The weather is the first since Red Dead to really give you a reaction when you see it. The way people in the street gawk or even spit at you, plus the focus on Witcher's work in this game with monsters, makes you really feel like a character too which is cool. It's something a more open RPG as far as character customization couldn't really do.

This game is so Red Dead ish so far it's even the same "okay fuck I'll do this shit you ask me to because you have a scrap of information" progression being on Geralts mission as it was for Marsten in Red Dead.

Well this is a bit of a landslide...

I've been wondering, during game of the year podcasts Jeff said that something at the end of Inquisition really soured him on the game... Don't think he ever mentioned what that thing was.

I really enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition, but Witcher 3 expands so much on what made DAI good (storytelling, worldbuilding, visuals, etc.) and also has great versions of the things that weren't so strong (combat). Maybe W3 turns to shit later on (I'm about 11 hours in), but right now it's easily one of the best games I've played this year.

One knock against W3 is that it has some Bethesda-class jank in it. Most of it is ignorable, but DAI was far more polished of a game (as far as bugs and perf issues go) for me.

@ds9143: I obviously can't speak for Jeff, but the ending is not as epic as it could've been, and it simultaneously feels like it could've ended earlier while also feeling like some important content was probably cut out before the ending. The final boss fight wasn't particularly challenging or interesting, either, at least on Normal. Even though I voted and pout my support behind W3, it's probably early to be doing a comparison of the two. I certainly haven't finished W3 yet so I'm comparing a whole-game-experience to one that I'm only scratching the surface of. Maybe W3 dries up near the end like DAI did.

I don't have anything against Inquisition. It's just that, for however similar these two games are on the surface level (medieval-style fantasy worlds with monsters, elves, dwarves etc. pp.) - DA just does nothing for me. The Witcher 3 (which is the first game of the series I've actually really gotten into) and its particular take on fantasy just kinda grabs me more. The gameplay is much more enjoyable overall, I must say. And I love Gwint!

I have about 350 hours in the DA universe. Inquisition is by far the worst of the three. Compared to Wild Hunt? The Witcher all the way. Not even close for me.

I actually far prefer the tactical view stuff in Inquisiton to Origins, but I think that is mostly down to playing on consoles. Inquisition was a lot more controller friendly, and gave those of us on consoles a lot more freedom to think tactically. It didn't quite solve the issue for me, though. My biggest issue with those games is just not having quite enough control over your party. DA:I went a little way to helping with this by letting you queue orders though! I had a good time with the combat in DA:I, just less so with the rest of it.

But with this question - I actually quite enjoy the Witcher's combat as well, which seems to be a minority opinion - and the rest of it is just so far ahead of Dragon Age. Dragon Age feels, maybe has always felt, like a gameplay style in search of a story. The one they have is decent, if derivative. I can't help but feel they consistently short-change the bits that are actually interesting about it though - namely the stuff about the Fade. Inquisition did focus a lot more on that stuff though. Early on I though I would really like it, but it really quickly devolved into something less interesting (to me).

The Witcher has a feeling of being developed around the lore of the books - a top down approach that makes it all feel really coherently put together, especially with the attention to detail the CDPR seem to put into it. This does mean that some of the gameplay decisions are a bit divisive I think, and so how much you enjoy it will depend a lot on how invested you are in the lore, I suppose.

At the moment I'd say DA:I. Its combat was more fun to me, not necessarily "better", but more fun. I think DA has a more interesting mythology. So far in W3 I haven't run into elves/dwarves being segregated and treated like Native Americans/black people, which was very interesting to me in Witcher 2. It's mainly been "look for this girl/woman" and do fetch quests in between. I like both games, but I thought people were too hard on DA:I and are overrating W3. It's not much different from W2. I like the adult nature of The Witcher world, it feels dirty and medieval as far as the nudity, racism, violence, it mentions rape, etc. I'm talking more W2 than W3. I'm not super far into the new game and haven't seen much of that yet. Skyrim feels like it's from LOTR, while Witcher is more like Game of Thrones, DA is a bit in the middle. As far as their game design systems, Bioware seems better at checkpoints, health systems, explaining things, and just being accessible while still requiring skill/strategy. Figuring stuff out in W2 was fun, but got annoying sometimes. W3 feels unfair sometimes.

Graphics: Witcher 3

Gameplay: DA:I

World (visually and the feel): Witcher 3

Characters: DA:I

Mission and system design: DA:I

Story: Neither one has a great one, just cool worlds.

This is an easy choice for me considering Witcher 3 runs really well on my pc while in DA: Inquisition I was never able to get past the menu screen due to insanely bad stuttering and lag that made no sense what so ever. Idk how they coded that game so poorly but DA is literally impossible for me to play on my pc with and a core i5, GTX 970, and 8gbs of ram. Meanwhile Witcher 3 and every other new game runs very smoothly on my system.

so far, witcher 3 side quests are of alot better quality and more fun to do, thus why i'm nearing more hours played with the witcher 3 than DA: I (i put in about 100 hours in that game) and i'm not even halfway through the game yet.

From what I've played so far (about 8 hours), I like the Witcher III much more. Inquisition had a lot of boring content.

DA:I made it into the double digits! Still might have a chance here.

DA3 was fine, but Witcher 3 has been heads and shoulders above it so far.

I enjoyed my time with DA:I. Witcher 3 is one of the best games ever made, not even close.

The Witcher 3 100%. I appreciate the more character driven storyline, the zones are as large if not larger than DAI but don't feel dead, and the combat is more fluid and fun than DAI. That and I'm not forced to listen to churchy people talk about their version of the magic genie in the sky.

Witcher 3 is one of the greatest RPGs made in the last ten years. DA:I has multiplayer.

Dragon Age Inquisition is a garbage game now for some reason, so Witcher 3 i guess

DA:I is still pretty damn good. I think i like the chracters there better.

The Witcher III is better than Dragon Age III in every possible way, aside from frame rate on consoles.

I'm a big fan of the DA games and I really enjoyed Inquisition, but Witcher 3 is just in a different universe. So damn good.

Tried Inquisition and the shit sucked ass. Witcher 3, well, it kicks ass.

DA: I was cool but a Witcher 3 surpasses it in every way. It's a masterly crafted fantasy RPG.

To me The Witcher series has reigned supreme ever since the first game poked its head through the RPG realm and proceeded to destroy everything else with its staggering uniqueness. /opinion

The Witcher 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, Dragon Age Origins is also one of my favorite games, but DA:I is a dull single player MMO, and the Witcher 3 is just incredible. Finished the Bloody Baron story line last night, holy shit...

It only gets better from there.

@mb said:

Which is why it's fascinating that Dragon Age: Inquisition won so many Game of the Year awards.

It's an okay-to-above-average game, and I personally enjoyed my time with it, but I think it's indicative of how 2014 had so many disappointments that a lot of otherwise runner-up titles got promoted to prominence.

I really hope that The Witcher 3 is a sign of this year picking up.

Witcher 3 might well be better, but I feel like the poll would look different if asked later. Right now the game is coming out with massive hype in essentially a vacuum of no competitors.

Haven't gotten far in Witcher 3 but Inquisition was by far my favorite game of last year.

I'm enjoying Witcher more based purely on gameplay, then add in the fact that side stuff is a lot more interesting. I loved DA:I but I wish I had just mainlined the story and abandoned all side quests. They were a total waste of time.

I have played DA I for almost 100 hours and I would say it was a "ok" game. Quite enjoyable if you are a fan of the previous games and the lore (I have even read all books except for the calling) but nothing you will remember for too long

So far I'm 70 hours in Witcher 3 and the game is easily the best video gaming experience I have had in the last years

The game is pretty much superior in every single aspect to Dragon Age. Especially the writing and mainquest is some levels above what Bioware did in their last game (and any game since baldurs gate 2)

"Family matters" with the bloody Baron must be one of the best written questlines ever made. And the "Ladies of the Wood" one of the creepiest. I'm highly impressed how CD Project Red managed to keep this quality. After leaving Velen, I thought the mainquest quality can only drop, but Novigrad is as good as Velen. And so far I did about 25 hours of mainquest and still have about 20-25 hours more left. In comparison: the mainquest in Dragon Age was 12-15 hours long if you count out the (fetch)sidequests you have to do to gain power. And the story was the typical "chosen hero saves the world from the big bad" cliche story. The Witcher 3 story so far is something really special and I really hope it can keep this quality till the end

I'm four days and a little more than a few hours into The Witcher 3 (telling by the game time), but I'll have to hold judgement until I finish The Witcher 3. I thought Inquisition was superb, and I am really liking The Witcher 3. It took some time for me to get into The Witcher 3, even more so than Inquisition which also had a lot to do. It's still kind of overwhelming, but I am not as hastily trying to get it all done in order to get to the next mission, so I am enjoying it more. I think in the end, I don't care which is better because both are great games and I'd recommend both. The Witcher 3 is perhaps more impressive when it comes to side content, and funner in combat when you get into it. I enjoy both for the exploration, and the story and characters are really enjoyable as well. Both have good soundtracks too. I think, at least on consoles, the visuals are pretty similar. Dang, now that I think about it, I thought Inquisition was long, at 105 hours to do just about everything.

After that, I ran around seeing what else I could do for another five to seven hours, with the war table and what have you. Now, I am already near the length I've played Inquisition, and I still feel I have a lot more to do in The Witcher 3. Anyways, whether I like one over the other doesn't really matter to me, because in the end, both are great experiences that I'd recommend people play, and happy I had played. I'd also recommend they play the previous games before it just to get the most out of the third. While you don't really have to play them, it's always great to know the characters you'll encounter again from the past game. On a side note, does anyone else see the resemblance between Dandelion/Zoltan and Varric? Varric seems like those two characters together in a way, though not encompassing either of those characters' personalities altogether, just some aspects.

I imagine I'll be playing both these games for a while, because Inquisition will have some DLC out... tomorrow. Jaws of Hakkon on PS4. That said, I'll buy it later after I play through all of Witcher 3. I also bought the thing for The Witcher, which adds 30 hours of content to the game for later. You can compare and contrast between the two, but to me they're similar enough I find this to be a great question even though I couldn't really answer it. I kind of wish Bioware and CD Projekt Red got together to make a cross over. That'd be amazing to me, and very interesting. If I had to answer the question right now though, I'd say that it took me way longer to fully appreciate The Witcher 3 than Inquisition, but there are comparable aspects between both games in which I find The Witcher 3 a bit more impressive. There are a few aspects of The Witcher 3 that I like less, but they're quite negligible, especially later in the game.

Witcher 3 by a long shot. Dragon Age felt incomplete, lacked any redeeming characters, and had a useless story to boot. Personal preference here, but I also enjoy the Witcher's combat far more than Dragon Age's.

@ntm: yeah i don't think everything should be a competition, and both are so far as i can tell great games with their own strongpoints. i just like how when one game comes out that (arguably) improves on the other's features the other automatically is considered dogshit. i'd love to compare what some of DA:I's detractors said in this thread to what they were saying about it when it came out.