Witcher 3 or Dragon Age: Inquisition

I liked Dragon Age a lot more than some people - I thought the changes to the combat system finally made it feel like a squad based RPG (on consoles). They do a good job of honing in on the elements of the story which are most interesting about Dragon Age, rather than the stuff cribbed from popular culture. With that said the MMO design of it gets tiresome, and I never finished it.

And at the end of the day, The Witcher 3 is just better. It's got better characters, a story that feels less designed by comittee, a sense of purpose to the quests.

Both of them have absolutely awful loot mechanics though.

I don't even think its close. Witcher 3 I think is one of the greatest RPG's ever made, and I didn't care for Inqusition at all, it felt like an offline MMO.

Easily Witcher 3. I tried going back to DA:Inq earlier this year and I didn't even get past the tutorial before I had enough of it. For a "sprawling" RPG it's just utterly lackluster and generic, to the point I'd call it a mid-tier game.

Witcher 3.

DAI's story falls apart in the back half and it's combat is shit. Witcher 3 is amazing.

I'm probably in the top 1% of people in terms of liking Dragon Age Inquisition. I played it 100% through twice, bought all the DLC, got the platinum trophy. It was my GOTY for the year it came out, I really like that game.

All that being said, I prefer The Witcher 3 without any hesitation. Witcher 3 is a Game of The Generation level game for me.

I really like Dragon Age. It's a special game and it loves all of its characters in a way that recalls some of my favourite sit-coms like Parks and Rec, idiot humour included.

That being said, cmon now son, the Witcher 3 is just astonishingly good.

@anonymous_jesse: DAI's combat isn't inherently bad, per se. That said, it does lack the staying power it needs to see you though the game, which is a problem I more commonly associate with JRPGs. Getting sick of the battle system before the end of my first play through isn't good for a game that uses replayability as a key selling point. There just wasn't enough variety in the skill trees, and too many of the unlocks just made existing abilities better. The 8-ability limit imposed by the controller scheme didn't really help matters, either.

I'm a big, BIG, BIG, (BIG) RPG guy, and the answer is Witcher 3 and it's not even close. That's even more true if you're picking it up with the DLC included.

Both of the games have a lot of "stuff" to do. The difference is that most of what's in Witcher 3 is without a doubt excellent and engaging from top to bottom. There are a lot of little throwaway side-quests that are just as, if not more, engaging than anything in the main plot (and the main story is still pretty damn good). DA:I on the other hand really runs out of steam after awhile. It's a lot of micromanaging a war table and generally button-mashy combat. In some ways, DA:I is the most BioWare-y of BioWare games. It has really strong individual character moments, but a really paint by numbers main plot together with combat and gameplay are never better than "meh."

Here's the best recommendation I can give Witcher 3 - I haven't yet finished it. Normally, that would be because I got bored or sidetracked and just lost stream. With the Witcher 3 it's because that last quest is really, truly, the very last thing I have to do in that game and I don't want the experience to end. So it just sort of sits there.

The key thing is how much customization do you want for your player character? In typical Bioware fashion DA:I lets you create your own character and define who that person is, how you play, what kind of leader you are and how your relationships with other characters play out. In The Witcher you are Geralt. At the end of the day I didn't like Geralt all that much, and while I enjoyed a handful of moments of The Witcher 3, I ultimately sped through the mainline story and never looked back. DA:I left me wanting to replay as a different character to see how relationships and events shaped out differently.

That said, what really happened after playing both of these games back to back is I got burnt out on open world RPGs and I haven't had much of a desire to touch either since completing their stories.

I am going to parrot everyone else and say Witcher 3. One of my favorite games ever. I even really loved the weakest part of it, which was the combat. Just an amazing game top to bottom.

Having said that, I did enjoy DA:I, flaws and all, and the DLC really wraps things up well (goddammit Bioware). My advice would be if you plan to play both, play DA:I first. For me, at least, W3 made DA:I impossible to return to. I feel that it does literally EVERYTHING better.

That's actually why I was initially leaning towards DA. I'm definitely not going to play both back to back, open world games tend to suck the life out of me for a while.

@bill_mcneal: I felt both games dragged quite a bit at moments and had issues with combat and character upgrades. The Witcher probably had the best individual story moments, but I liked DA more for that ownership over my character.

I liked Dragon Age: Inquisition

it doesn't stand up to The Witcher 3 though. The Witcher 3 might be my favourite game, ever, so it's hard to match up to it.

I would definitely go with The Witcher 3. I played only a few hours of Dragon Age Inquisition, which speaks to how engaged I was with it. But currently, I'm 80 hours and 2 minutes into Witcher 3 as I am finishing Blood and Wine. The main story of Witcher 3 has some great moments, and there are some pretty great side quests. And the first expansion for W3 is amazing. If I had to choose between DA:I and just Hearts of Stone I would choose HoS. My biggest complaint of W3 is that after 80 hours I kind of hate the combat, as it is either very easy or very frustrating depending on the encounter.

I finally played The Witcher 3 for the first time this summer, and I think that it's really, really, really good. The combat is a little too repetitive, the main game has some serious pacing issues around Novigrad, and I think the character development/equipment stuff in that game is actively bad, but it's a RPG with a rare quantity and quality of good content, to the point where even the filler stuff is worth taking a look at. Both DLC expansions cut out a lot of the fat, and might be better as a result.

Dragon Age Inquisition, by comparison, is a game that I tried to play twice and soured on around the 20 hour mark both times. It seems entirely competent, but it also kinda emphasizes everything I dislike about modern AAA video games?

Both are good, but The Witcher 3 is a lot better. It feels a lot more organic.

I enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition. I played it despite the fact my graphics card at the time was so old that I wasn't even getting a steady 20 fps. The first area had that risk of burning you out because you think "I should do everything" & a lot of the side quests are really uninteresting after you do one, but if you resist the urge to do everything, it's a game that is worth playing. That said, it also wasn't really what I was hoping for, which was a return to DA:O's style of play. But downgrading a game for not being what I wanted seems a little harsh. It's got good moments, some fun characters, it's worth playing.

But. The Witcher 3 was the game that got me to finally upgrade my then 8 year old graphics card. It's really fucking good. Game of the generation quality. The depth of quality is astounding really, the way it's open-world felt vs the "open-world areas" of DA:I is incredible. And if you've any attachment to the characters of the previous games then obviously there's that in its favour. So for me, it's really no contest. And I've not even gone back to get the DLC yet but everyone gushes about them.

I'm mad that you would even consider comparing them.

Okay. Not really, but Witcher 3 is so far above Inquisition that it isn't worth saying more than that.

DA:I is good, but I agree with the others that Witcher 3 is the way to go. I did the game, and both DLCs in about 45 hours.

This is no contest. Witcher 3 all the way. DAI isnt fun to "play" at all in my option. It has the some of the most boring combat I have ever played in a video game. It mostly just boils down to holding one button and using what ever ability isn't on cooldown. I have actually fallen asleep playing it. I dont really have much of an opinion on the story, as I quit playing it about 6 hours in. I felt every mind-numbing second of it.

The Witcher 3 on the other hand has a really fun combat system that does start to wear on you. Granted that was 60 hours into my playthrough. What wouldn't get old after all that time. What kept me going was its story and characters. People go on and on about the Bloody Baron, but they game as so much more to offer than that. The Witcher made me FEEL things like no game ever has. I remember grinning like an idiot at that the whole drunk witchers scene. I remember how pissed and ready to kill Whoreson Junior I was. I remember how motivated I was to avenge the beating and maiming of a certain character. dont want to get anyones hopes up but, The Witcher 3 is hands down one of the best game I've ever played.

P.S.

The Witcher 3 has fucking Gwent, which is a surprisingly fun mini game. I love that some the game's quests can be solved by playing it. I would buy a whole game where Geralt gives of witching to become a master Gwent player.

There's been about two years where I tried to get into both trilogies by playing the first games first. I'm too dumb to finish Dragon Age: Origins because I got stuck fighting this motherfucker until the end of time because I did shit out of order, and in Witcher 1 I got stuck because I pissed off this motherfucker because detective work is far from my strong suit in games.

So at some point I just said "fuck it" and played Witcher 3 and Inquisition. I liked Inquisition. Some times it's nice to take a break from going on miscellaneous adventures as the powerful Dovahkiin and roll with three of your peoples with having some sort of clear goal in mind and hearing some interesting banter with your party along the way. But I ended up sticking with Witcher 3 a bit longer because, where I usually don't get too attached to a game's story because I care more about gameplay, the quests that you get in Witcher 3 lead to some very interesting moments and characters that I actually got invested in, especially the Bloody Baron quest line and character.

Witcher 3 might be the best modern RPG game ever made and everybody should at least try it.

I personally think that both are great choices, but I have to go with the Witcher 3.

Hands down Witcher 3 all the time every time. It's one of the best open-world action RPGs in years.

This exists GWENT. I just got done playing it. It's pretty good so far the changes are smart and add more dynamics to the game. Still really curious to see how the single player campaign pans out for it.

I'm just here to add my voice to the chorus but: my favorite game ever has been Xenogears since I got it when around when it came out ('98 or so). From then till last year that title held. Damn near 20 years! Witcher 3 all the way.

The Witcher 3 is in my opinion a must play game for basically anyone who is into story and world building in games. Dragon Age Inquisition is decent, with some very good parts and some not very good parts, but nothing that is truly excellent, unlike Origins which is a must play in my opinion as well.

Witcher 3. Even though I hated the combat system it is still a way better game then DAI.

Hands down Witcher 3, no competition.

Witcher 3 is one of the best RPGs of recent memory, DA:I on the other hand did not hold my attention at all, in fact while I've finished the Witcher I gave up on Dragon Age due to it having a repetitive, boring, single player MMO feeling.

Inquisition has all the worst parts of Bioware games - bland combat, so-so main story. Unfortunately, it also removes some of the best parts of Bioware games - interesting and deep side stories and quests with lots of conversations etc, somewhat linear progression through small but well-realised locales. It replaces them with MMO quests and lots of empty open hub areas. It has some very good character writing though and I enjoyed my time with it until I eventually I wasn't getting anything out of the gameplay.

Witcher 3 outclasses it in every way. The developers did an incredible job with making an open world game that doesn't rely on padding it with meaningless cruft. Even the things which are usually very minor rinse and repeat side quests such as monster-slaying contracts or hunting around for armour usually have an interesting little short story, a difficult choice or a cool environment or a unique creature design or something.

It's also a much more distinct game in setting, tone, writing, characterisation and game design. It's like a work of classic literature compared to Inquisition's fun but poorly-written pot-boiler.

Inquisition, barely. Its got a better (and fully customizable) main character, better "important" NPCs, better conversational writing, and much better combat.

The Witcher 3 has better quests, better exploration, better "minor" NPCs, better background and plot writing, and looks much better.

Both have terrible inventory management.

I guess it kinda depends on what you want the most. For me its really owning the main character and having that character surrounded by a cast of characters that interact with each other and you in cool and different ways; and that's what Bioware does. And because of that, the big "moments" in Inquisition are a lot better for me than the big moments in The Witcher. On the other hand, the smaller second-to-second gameplay in The Witcher is just breathtakingly amazing (except the combat).

You have to play both because Witcher or Dragon Age is the most annoying and nonsensical argument of video games in the 10s.

Yeah not going to find much of a debate here. As someone that enjoyed his time with Dragon Age - a big fan of the series - there really is no contest. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is truly one of the best games ever made. The side quests even tell interesting stories. Its a labor of love and it really shows. The only thing a person can fault the Witcher on is its combat, but thats maybe 15-30% of a truly remarkable experience.

No contest. I would struggle to even recommend Inquisition on its own.

I would have chosen 'both' so I won't choose. As for which will take less time, yes, Dragon Age: Inquisition in all is shorter, though when it comes to the story, I don't know. The Witcher 3 is only, very, very slightly better than Dragon Age Inquisition if I'm being honest to how I feel about it, simply because combat is more fluid and the open world structure is a bit better, with a better variety of interesting side quests. Inquisition, doing everything possible minus all DLC, took me around 110 hours, while with all DLC, maybe around 130 - 140 hours, and The Witcher 3, doing everything possible minus perhaps all the exclamation marked parts because they are just so random and widespread, about 250, then with the DLC, around 300 hours. I beat Inquisition, and at that time, I had never put that many hours into a one playthrough game, and then astonishingly, The Witcher 3 broke that time. I say play both at some point. Overall, I like Dragon Age and The Witcher the same, and would recommend both equally. Now I have to listen to those games' soundtracks. Right now, I'm wondering if I want to get the Skyrim remaster... Did you play any of the past games in this series?

I don't know how accurate it is, but How long to beat says for just going through the main story (and I'll just round), The Witcher 3 is 45 to 50 hours, while Dragon Age: Inquisition is the same. More accurately as they have it though, The Witcher 3 is 46.5 hours, and Inquisition is at 44.5, so basically, you're going to get the same amount of hours out of the story perhaps.

Witcher 3, Ain't even a contest.

DA:I is a very flawed game, not very close to Origins sadly.

I still enjoyed it but it's not not even in the same stratosphere as Witcher 3. Or Witcher 2 for that matter

In Dragon Age, do you ever take magic mushrooms and wind up talking to your horse? No? Then the answer is clear.

Do both. Both are great and can't go wrong with either. I'll vote DA here though, since I suspect the Witcher will be the more popular option. Also I just love the combat in DA, much more then Witcher.

I am a huge Bioware fan and loved Origins and even DA2 and I did not like Witcher 1 and I thought Witcher 2 was just ok. That said Witcher 3 beats Inquisition in pretty much everything. I did not enjoy DAI as much as previous titles as it was just too full of generic MMO style side quests. Witcher 3 makes even secondary quests a bit more interesting.

Bioware tried making an open world game when they are good at linear story telling.

It's not even a contest. Witcher 3.

The Witcher 3 is one of the best games ever made. My vote is for The Witcher 3.

There's some hay being made, rightly so, about Witcher 3 making you play as Geralt who MAY or may not be...less than stellar as a protagonist. Having played almost every Bioware RPG since since Baldur's Gate, I actually find this refreshing. At last, in an RPG with choice, you STILL have a point of view coming into it and that makes the choices feel meatier since the game doesn't have to fully flow around them. Yeah, Geralt might not always be the most likable protagonist, but that's SOMETHING. He's MORE than a cipher for you, but not quite something like Solid Snake or Sam Fischer: your choices still matter and actually matter a lot MORE.

Plus the combat is way more engaging and the side quests almost all have small stories behind them. I bounced of DA:I because every few feet, I had to engage in a WoW-style combat that was JUST too tedious to hold down X through, but not engaging enough to want to ramp up the difficulty on. Especially for how common it was...

I actually adore DAI. Story driven, massive RPG with magic caster class, your own customized character is all what I want from games. Played it 100% with all DLC's included on PC. I tend to not come back to games and buy DLC's. Also those story DLC's were pretty good. Origins is still my favorite with the difficulty balance on hardest difficulty and properly done tactical view made that game perfection for my tastes.

That said. I would almost always recommend a friend Witcher 3 if the question came up. I just happen to have this thing about there being big difference on RPG's whether you can be pure caster or forced to have melee. I do also like the class and character customization (Witcher naturally having very little of this) on DAI more. Really tried to like Witcher 3 for 12 hours and the world is undoubtedly amazing, but just couldn't make piece with the gameplay. If you don't have these quirk, go for Witcher 3.

Witcher. Full stop.

Get both DLCs and play the Witcher 3. It is a fantastic game and you will not be sorry you played it.

You're obviously more in the mode to play DA:I, so just play that. You'll play the Witcher 3 eventually so it doesn't matter any way. I preferred the Witcher 3 but had fun with both games.