Closing rifts and doing those other side missions really wasn't THAT bad. I actually enjoyed the ones that lead into other side content. Ex: Doing emerald graves today, at one point you stumble upon an area outside a villa, you find a key after killing the mini boss, and you can enter the villa to fight the boss inside. After that, notes left behind actually state how the inquisition is moving in and you're on your way to the sister in the cave.
Some of them add side areas/story/fights that contribute to the feeling of actually exploring off the beaten path.
However, there does need to be a balance. Hopefully it's found in the new ME title.
I sped through ME1 and beat it in 7 hours. The game is short. There's just a lot of filler and fluff. Planets felt barren and lifeless and repetitive. If I had to choose between quests in DAI vs ME1, hands down DAI. -- and now I'm going on an unimportant tangent because I saw a comment about DAI and ME1 and wanted to respond.
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SomberXIII et FuzzyThoctar aiment ceci