I was pretty surprised to not see a general review thread stickied at the top of this forum. I'm pretty sure there was one following the release of DA2 (I didn't follow the forums during DAO.) So here is a thread for exactly that.
I would like people to post their general impressions of the game. Keep in mind that this is a NO SPOILER forum. There are plenty of non-story aspects of the game to discuss without bringing in spoilers. This includes romance content beyond "I really liked/disliked the so-and-so romance."
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I'll start with my own review...
I was pretty disappointed by the PC launch of the game and the various problems. I have played about 20 hours of the game (more fortunate than some, I know) and enjoyed it while I was playing, but I have experienced several crashes, and at this point it feels like the only way I get to play is if the game wants me to at the moment. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the problems I've experienced. The game sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.
As mentioned, I've played about 20 hours and have completed the prolog. I am playing on casual mode as a human female mage. In general, I am really enjoying the game so far and fully expect to play it again after I am done with this go 'round.
The graphics are astounding, even on a mix of medium and high.
I do have some issues of stuttering dialog during cut scenes, and also of too low dialog during those non-cinematic dialog scenes -- I'm not sure how to describe these other than this way, but they are the NPC-specific dialog scenes where the camera focuses on the pair speaking and there are dialog options, but it's not a full cinematic scene.
-- UI --
I was a bit iffy on the UI from the previews I saw, but have really come to like it. It seems that it took the modern path of DA2 and went full-bore to refine it and make it more elegant. The visual themes and graphical elements are consistent throughout, which is pleasing. It feels very readable, usable over many hours; I haven't experienced any eye-strain from this pleasant UI.
The inclusion of the cards seemed a bit odd, but I went with it. The art used on them is utterly gorgeous, fantastic, awesome (in the true sense of the word.) You all really should sell prints of various pieces. The artist(s) did a wonderful job. I really liked the idea of using the card images for the party bar portraits and of also having them change with party member status (injured and whatnot.)
UI related, I do wish that we had a more detailed minimap. Many times I've had to veer off my path to go fight or look at something, only to forget which direction I was going and be forced to look at the large map, thus taking me away from the game world. It would also be really helpful in Skyhold, as it is difficult to find things and people because of its many levels. I certainly don't need a full on Zelda-type minimap where you see all of the treasure chests and whatnot, but a general outline of the area surrounding my PC would be welcome.
Also UI related, I would like to be able to track more than one quest at a time. Having to constantly switch my active quest so that I can head in the right direction is getting to be annoying. This is especially true where there are large maps (like the Hinterlands) that may have more than one quest objective in the same area. I know this game isn't World of Warcraft, but it IS very large and has numerous quests. Having this would be a quality of life change I would appreciate.
-- Character Creation --
For the most part this was pretty great. Thank you for once again allowing click-arrows and left/right arrow navigation of the selection options. For the options with the click-drag box I would have liked some markings on the box to indicate the center, and also a reset for that specific feature. Many times I had to revert to the head selection to clear the changes I had made.
I think the skin textures are fantastic; I like being able to see actual texture and pores. The only problem I have is that everyone still seems very shiny, as if the entirety of Thedas is composed of oily people (like myself in real life.)
The single biggest problem I have is with hair clipping the ears. I tried for a very long time to get the ears in such a way so the hair does not clip through them, but that resulted in gigantic ears that stick out of the head. I eventually just had to go "screw it," just do the ears as I wanted them and ignore the hair clipping.
Another issue are the bald heads. For some reason the dome of the skull seems unnaturally large on these options. However, I didn't notice that present on the NPCs using these hairs (or no hairs).
-- Dialog --
We've known for a long time that DAI heralded the return of the dialog wheel and paraphrases. I have found that, while I would prefer the full line, these paraphrases are much improved over those used in DA2, and I also do enjoy this style of wheel, which I realize would be impossible to use without paraphrasing.
There were some instances where I regretted what was actually said and wished I had made a different choice, but so far there has been nothing really cringe worthy. I've been satisfied with 90-95% of the paraphrase-to-full-line match ratio. One notable exception to that was the line paraphrase "You look fine," which was spoken as "You haven't complained." To my mind, a person with an illness or some physical problem can look fine and not talk of their malady for any number of reasons: they are in denial and speaking of it would shatter that; they are purposely hiding it because they are afraid of the consequences of being found out, or are afraid of causing anxiety in their friends on their behalf. To me, "looking fine" and "not complaining" are completely unrelated and I wished that my PC had actually said, "But you look fine."
The numbers on the dialog wheel have been very helpful and I've found myself using those most of the time. I do like the tone icons, but I've only made slight use of them. I am extremely happy that you've kept the heart for flirt options. The flirts have all been pretty obvious, and have also been in the same position on the wheel, but it is still nice to be completely sure in those cases.
-- Tanking, Support, and General Combat --
In the previous DA games when I've played a warrior I've primarily played a SnS spec. I don't play this because I want to tank, I play it because I like the play style, animations, and abilities of this type. I've also found the tanking types pretty lackluster for actual tanking. It has always seemed that "aggro" or threat went to whomever was able to do the most damage and that most tank abilities weren't able to do anything about it, especially if I was playing a high damage class like a mage. That said, tanking in DAI is fantastic. Both Cassandra and Blackwall are able to hold aggro like real champs. Once something is fixated on these characters it is virtually impossible to pull it off.
Support and damage mitigation is very interesting. The tanks' guard abilities really help to sustain them, in addition to the magic shield abilities. I've specced Solas as my primary support mage, and the AI does seem to be performing fairly well in that regard.
As far as general combat goes... the controls could use some work on the PC end. I'm not going to get into most of that here as there have already been numerous threads related to it. I will say that I like the various abilities I've seen used so far among the classes, and I haven't been hampered by the eight skill limit.
Most of my time playing as a mage seems to be waiting for various abilities to come off cooldown, or in regaining enough mana to use them. I'm relegated to staff twirling in the meantime. Like DA2, this just doesn't seem to be the way mages should be played. I have these magic spells and can't use them most of the time. There is even a spell upgrade that increases staff damage for a short time after using the spell. I do understand that DAO mages were ridiculously overpowered, especially at higher levels where the mana pool was so great as to be able to be constantly casting spells until everything was dead, thus leading to the DA2 and DAI style of mage play. It just seems like there can be a better way to allow mages to cast more frequently without either nerfing their damage into the ground, or making them too overpowered. The other classes have physical weapons so auto-attacking seems natural for them, but mages auto-attacking with staves seems unnatural.
-- Characters --
I've got all of the companions now and I like them all. Since I stayed away from most of the pre-release info I didn't know how most of them would sound, but they're all great and perfectly suited to their personalities.
Something that has really stuck out has been the difference from DA2, which is refreshing. I enjoyed the characters in that very much, whether I liked or disliked them as individuals, but the constant antagonism between several of them was grating, and I never realized just how much until playing DAI. Sure, some of them have issues with others, but it is no where near the same level of venom exhibited in DA2.
-- Reuse of assets --
It has been odd to see some art assets from DAO and DA2 reused, particularly when it comes to armor, but yet redone in the new engine. With mage armor specifically, I think it might have been fun to have different styles of robes for each Circle. Different countries have different aesthetics and that would translate into the styles of their mage robes. I would not expect mages from Ferelden to be wearing the same robes as the mages from Orlais. On the other hand, this war has been going on for a couple of years now, and they all should look pretty ragged, or not be wearing robes at all.
I also saw the old DA2 Kirkwall yellow wardrobe sitting around somewhere which was... erm, not great. It seemed quite out of place. There have been other miscellaneous oddities like this, but very few.
-- Things to be thankful for --
* Jumping! It has been so nice to be able to jump in this game! Over rocks, over fences, up hills. Really great.
* Fast travel! Especially within Skyhold, which is immense, fast travel has been extremely helpful.
* Valuables inventory tab! Like the junk tab in DA2, it's quite nice to be able to sort through my bags and put junk I want to sell into one place.
* Mage pants! These all look really great. I love the coats and tunics to bits.
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