So after 72 hours of gaming, I've probably done around 80 to 85% of what can be done in this game and all in all, I enjoyed DA:I much more than I thought I would, given all the things I read before the game was released.
I won't bother anyone with the stuff I liked and rather share the things I explicitly disliked about DA:I:
1)
The sheer size of the maps as well as the placement of mountains, walls or other obstacles.
Seriously, I felt like I was playing an pay-for MMORPG, you know, these things that intentionally stretch play-time by making you search for 10 keys to open that temple door instead of just 3 or 4, which make you run sheer endless hallways and roads, just so you spent more time with the game than you reasonably should.
Obviously, someone at Bioware thought to go back to the old days (think Baldur's Gate 2 plus expansions) where you usually needed quite a bit more time than 30ish hours or so to beat the game and see everything. What they did however was NOT add quality content, but MMORPG time stretching tactics (including those typical cheap MMORPG side-quests).
For any additional content, expansion packs or DLCs, please Bioware, for the love of Andraste, DON'T WASTE MY ****** TIME AGAIN!
If that is what you think the open-world of Skyrim was about, you obviously haven't spent enough time with the game.
What you did was simply take the working concept of previous DAs and simply enlarged the maps, set higher bars for quest requirements and make map layout as confusing as possible (remember that Knight's Tomb? If I ever get to meet that guy who is responsible for the temple layout... I will have some interesting things to tell him...) in combination with the really less than optimal radar (let's you think you'll have to go THAT way, only to realize you should have used the way 5 minutes earlier to get around all the dead-ends).
Around hour 60, I really had a difficult time to refrain from simply doing the remaining main quests, I was THIS bothered by the tactics deployed.
This issue, by far, has been the worst about DA:I.
A 35 to 50 hours RPG-type video game is perfectly adequate. Not only 12 year olds with more time at their hand than they know what to do with play your games, Bioware!
2)
Hitboxes... the hitboxes of the terrain often don't match the textures, like... at all! Not to mention that I cannot simply run in-between two persons standing next to each other, although by any measure of physics and logic I definitely should be able to easily slip through. DA:I has easily been the worst game I ever played in that regard. Some might say that's is no biggy at all, but IMO it hurts immersion quite a bit.
3)
the neutered RPG aspect. Why on earth do they not allow us to spec our characters in regard to their attribute points like we were able to do in the past? It really boggles the mind as it simply makes no sense.
4)
the inventory... I mean, what the flipping ****? At least for the PC version I would have expected something like in DA:O, Baldur's Gate etc., you know? Simple drag and drop.
Instead they chose to copy the (equally bad) inventory of the Witcher 2.
5)
Animations... The Frostbite engine took some time to get used to but after a while it was okay, so the graphics department was covered as it was indeed fairly good, but when it comes to gestures, facial expressions and most of all, running, jumping and climbing animations, one begins to wonder whether this is really 2014 or rather 2002.
6)
The beginning really felt anemic and I had issues motivating me to keep on playing. Nothing you can do about it now, Bioware, but I thought it deserved mentioning nontheless.
At least it got better the longer I kept playing.
7)
Depiction of romance... Bioware, how old do you think we are? 10? 12? DA:O was MUCH better in that regard. Compared to the Witcher series, romance and sexuality are an outright bad joke in DA:I.
The climax of my romance is a kiss in front of a fireplace? For real?
8 )
Skyhold management... it wasn't bad, I especially enjoyed the war table. But do you remember Awakening? THAT is how it should have been done. Upgrades that mattered and had an actual impact on the outcome of the game.
9)
narration after beating the game... way too short and many of the major decisions didn't affected what I was told in the slides. Compared to DA:O and Awakening, that was quite a bummer.
10)
the looks of the Inquisition soldier's armors, helmets and shields. Compare that to the Templars we are used to. Much less cool and much less sophisticated. They almost seem like from different eras.
Bonus)
Credibility... I hate to be that guy to point it out, and let me say first: I have no problem whatsoever with homosexuality, race etc. in real life, but... since we are talking about frikkin Medieval High Fantasy setting, there are a few things that need mentioning:
a) I'm a hetero as the overwhelming majority of the population in any given nation and most likely also the number of DA:I players. So how come I have equally little romance options available as a male hetero guy than if I were a homosexual guy or girl??
Let me be frank, aesthetically as well as in terms of personality, I was really not impressed with the selection presented to me. No one came close to Leliana, Isabella, let alone Morrigan.
So obviously, the available resources were used to please every sexual minority and give them "equal rights" (meaning an equal number of romance options) instead of focusing on the desires of the overwhelming majority. Again, less quality, more quantity.
Isn't one openly homosexual character enough (including a short stereotypical coming-out story arc), if the majority can then have more options to choose from, like it was the case in Mass Effect 2 for instance?
b ) the agenda of pleasing literally everyone became so blatantly obvious when they revealed one sidekick character to be transsexual. I was literally laughing at my TV... Bioware, this is the frikkin Middle Ages and High Fantasy. Not 2014 Western civilization, okay?? I mean, I'm pretty well-read when it comes to High Fantasy novels and movies, and let me tell you: What you are doing is ridiculous.
c) How come there are blacks in Ferelden and Orlais? I'm really, really sure that there were no blacks in DA:O or DA2. So why are there now? Has there been a huge immigration wave in the past 10 years (DA:I is set 10 years after the end of the Blight IIRC) from some distant land, or what? Again, it is the frikkin Middle Ages. People stayed where they were born 99% of the times. Or do you recall any blacks living in main lands of the Game of Thrones setting (Westeros) for instance? Sure, there were those darker complexions closer to the south or on that other continent, which is equally true for Tevinter and Antiva. And it makes perfect sense.
But where are blacks coming from all of a sudden? In-universe, there is simply no logical explanation.
Consequentially, immersion suffers quite a bit thanks to Bioware's/EA's agenda to please everyone and get as many positive press as possible.
Other than all those points, it was a quite enjoyable (but way too long) ride.
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