I haven't read any of the other posts before this page, so take these as my initial gripes with controls and such:
* Not having access to spell/ability lists during battle is a gamebreaking error in judgment. If my mage has a combination of electric/fire spells and I go into battle with an enemy with resistances to those, then I have no means to prevent my mage from being a lame duck during the battle. I can't equip a more appropriate staff because the inventory is locked out, and I can't change their abilities because "some options are limited" (paraphrasing. This includes being able to map abilities to the 8 button slots.) in the character record's abilities menu. This would be fine if I could (like in DA:O and DA2) access their abilities through the radial menu, but as that is not an option, this character becomes useless for the battle. Even then this would be fine if there was some sort of AI for mages that prevented them from using elemental spells that would be ineffective in battle.
* Ultimately it's frustrating that I can't set characters to perform certain roles. I want to be able to tell a mage to act in a support role (oh god there's no healing spell. Why is there no healing spell? Healing is not the same thing as barrier D: ) in some circumstances, and a 'debilitator' role in other circumstances. I want to be able to flip a general setting so that a rogue can focus on bombs and poisons one moment, and focus on archery the next. Some of that role-casting is addressed by what a character has equipped and what abilities are unlocked for them, I know; but it's especially bad in the case of mages. I can't tell a mage to prioritize casting barrier over burning their mana in offensive spells, and I can't tell them to avoid running face first into a dragon when I want them to perform support.
* Gambits / tactics: I appreciate the efforts to simplify this feature, as these went untouched for many players in DA:O and DA2 due to their level of complication. I feel that DA:I is too much of a leap in the other direction though. I can only set each character to attack a target based on... other characters' target choices? (or to defend a character, who needs to be specifically targeted... for some reason) I need my rogues to be able to focus mages and just generally disrupt people other than the enemy my PC is focusing. I need my warriors to be able to focus the enemy's tanks and aggro their rogues, removed from who my PC is focusing. So much of target choice should be handled based on who your enemies are, not the targets of the rest of party.
* Specializations? My first game I wanted to build an arcane warrior / battlemage... but I'm not even sure, 20-30 hours in, if there are any specializations, let alone specializations that match the ones on the DA:I website. None of the characters that become members of the inquisition brought specializations with them, there are no visual cues to inform me of the existence of such in the abilities menu, no reference to specializations so far in my game (at level 10ish now), and nothing in the 4 default mage ability trees really lends itself to battlemage...ness. I'm left with the impression that I'll just have to make do with what I have, which essentially means "be something other than a battlemage".
* Prologue was severely lacking (I may revise my opinion on this point if there is a 'flashback' section of the game later on that I haven't gotten to yet). Part of what made DA:O and DA2 so enjoyable was that they spent a good chunk of time establishing why your character should give a crap about the Grey Wardens / Kirkwall. DA:O had 2-5 hour dedicated prologues for each of the character types, and you could argue that all of Act 1 in DA2 was a prologue for Hawke. In Origins, Duncan helped you through one of the hardest times of your life, and your character likely owed him their life. The Grey Wardens were needed in order to save the world, and now with Duncan (the man who went out of his way to save your life and believed in your character enough to make you a Warden) gone, it fell to you and Alistair to pick up the pieces of your broken order and put Ferelden back together. In DA2, Kirkwall desperately needed someone who was willing to be the keystone of the city; someone able to negotiate between the Viscount, Arishok, and Chantry; between the mages and templars; Hawke took that burden upon themself because noone else would or could. It's important to note though that Hawke probably wouldn't have done any of that if it wasn't for the importance the world-building had placed on Hawke's relationships with their party members - especially in regards to Aveline and Varric. All of that character building took place over the course of upwards of 30-40ish hours of gameplay in the prologue/Act 1. Contrast all of that with the prologue for Inquisition (Spoilers for the first few hours of Inquisition follow):
Cass ©:"We need you to help us because you're the only person who can close the seals."
Player Character (PC): "Ok. What's my motivation?"
C: "...You survived the explosion. And you can close the seals."
PC: "But that's not a motivation. Why does my survival mean I need to devote myself to saving the world?"
C: "Because you have the mark that can seal the rifts. Also I'll just kill you if you don't."
PC: "Ok, you're not getting this. I don't care about any of you. I'm 90% sure you guys were going to call an Exalted March a couple hours ago and everyone I have ever known would have been dead in a month. By the way, my history is completely un-noteworthy. There was noone of import in my previous life that I really want to go out of my way to save/avenge, nothing bad has ever really happened to me until my hand started glowing, and I have nothing that links me to the blight or the events at Kirkwall that might give me some kind of context in this already well-established world. My life to this point has been so boring that it didn't even warrant a few hours of playable prologue."
C: "Fine. I won't ask you any questions that may establish why anyone should care about you. Oh by the way we're making you the commander of the Inquisition because everyone should care about you. Because reasons. ...Also, the hand thing."
* The Iron Bull has a triangle for a face. I can't unsee it. Awesome character so far though.
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