Skill Up's Q&A

I read some of the previews and watch people criticize and think to myself: "Oh no! Maybe it's... bad?".

But then I think: "Wait a minute, I am completely able to form a thought of my own. I'm not a dumb scrub to fall into the reviewer's clickbait rant."

And then I'm happy again.

Advancing in the Explorer Profile means a short range teleport!

This is something I never knew I needed in a Mass Effect game and now it's all I can think about it

It's pretty neat how the adept can use biotics to float in the air.

I agree with this person! Or wait, does that make me a dumb scrub? Nevermind, i don't agree with this person! But that means that I agree that I'm a dumb scrub.  

Ah, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Someone tell me what to think!!

From the previews I've seen, it seems like Bioware kinda segregated the planets; you have Story Planets which are loaded with hubs and other narrative elements, and Exploration Planets which are basically the Hissing Wastes on crack, where you go to explore, gather crafting mats, and grind stuff if so you wish.

That's probably a good idea. One of the main criticisms of Inquisition is that zones were often a hodge-podge of exploration and sparse story elements, making the entire experience feel unfocused. Hopefully if they have a clear idea what a player is supposed to do on each planet, they will be able to focus on making that particular element good without other gameplay concerns getting in the way.

I agree that blind pre-orders are not a good thing. I haven't pre-ordered my own copy either.

That said, I also believe the ''NEVER pre-order games'' side is a bit extreme, and is of course often held by Youtubers who want you to watch their videos first. I think pre-order can be a good business decision if you inform yourself about the game first. Don't pre-order just because it's Mass Effect or Bioware, but do if nearly everything you saw about the gameplay, exploration, characters etc. appeals to you. Bonus points if you're seen some undoctored game footage. 

As for Witcher 3's DLC, I don't hate you for that at all, but it always puzzles me that this is brought as an argument when, in the end, they mostly consisted of reskins and useless level 5-10 armors. The only one with any gameplay significance was New Game+. Inquisition had about as much free DLC packed with the Black Emporium, excluding multiplayer DLC since of course that's paid for by microtransactions. Witcher 3's free DLC was nothing to write home about, in the end, and was more of a marketing coup than a real gesture of goodwill IMO. Now when it comes to their paid DLC, they delivered and then some that's for sure.

I keep seeing statements like this in previews, and they still don't make sense to me. "It's not really an RPG, it's just an action game. Deep class customization tho, and lots of dialogue options."

Like, isn't that what makes something an RPG? If customizing your characters' skills and weapons and interactive dialogue don't make something an RPG, then maybe I never understood what an RPG was. Is this based on an idea that RPG gameplay has to be built around numbers instead of hit-boxes?

Regardless, this preview notches my interest up a bit more. Overall, the game has been sounding more promising recently, now that they're actually, you know, talking about it. Still unsure about the open area/quest structure. This article says it's better than DA:I, and I've seen another that says it's the same, soooo... eh?

The reviewer does specifically say "Strategic RPG roots" so it's likely that what they think is missing has more to do with the strategic part than the RPG part.

As for the open area quest structure, several previews have stated that they felt a distinct lack of DA:I style filler, and that most of what they encountered felt like it had some sort of narrative attached.

i trust bioware. they have never let us down. they always produce amazing games. mass effect 2 in particular made complete sense.

I'm very curious, since I never played or followed the division personally, what did he screw up?

I guess I don't feel like I've heard enough yet to judge. Although tbh I've never been one to go nuts over an OST. As long as the music adds something positive to the experience I'm happy.

I'll miss the galaxy map theme tho.