EDITED: 9 Jan 2015
So this started out as a response to someone asking if it's worthwhile to replay DAI but it got too long so I decided to start a new topic here. I keep adding stuff as I think of more, such as after I completed the few remaining areas or after I finished listening to all the banter.
To be honest, with youtubers like FluffyNinjaLlama, I'm less than motivated to start my second playthrough. The only branch that is different enough is the Templar main quest, Champions of the Just. I guess I'll only reload to play that part. Looking back, I found that surprisingly, I had a negative experience overall. I still enjoyed it, but not as much as I expected. And I never expected more than what the Devs were hyping us up for. I don't want to discredit anyone who worked on this game because I can see, feel how much work went into this. But this experience isn't something I'd boast to my friends. Not yet anyway. And since I don't know if I'll ever start another completionist playthrough, which I MUST do for my canon playthroughs, I'm not sure I could ever experience the DAI it was supposed to be. sadface. It's too early for shipping. There's still SO much to be working on. I'd rather go back in time and waited until the 5th patch.
I CAN'T PLAY MULTIPLAYER!
tl;dr
I think the most successful things about DAI is the semi-open world, the visuals (landscape and characters, on "decent PCs") and the CC, despite the qunari customization problem. The game failed to reflect the multitude of BIG problems in Thedas and I never got a sense of urgency with Cory/Red Templars/Wardens. The story felt short and rushed, and ended so abruptly. However, it did spark my interest in what is to come for the next game, regarding the elven gods and what's to come for the Chantry, which is ultimately the end goal. It turns out that the story within this game seems like filler used partly to support and bridge the endgame, and it is rather sad that it never captured my interest. Moreover, the game failed to deliver on some of what the developers promised. Part of the problem is that I am biased in the sense that I followed BioWare's DAI promotion. I got hyped. I got excited. That excitement passed. When it came out, with so many bugs and small disappointments here and there, it hit me hard.
If I don't count the bugs and all, I'll give it a 7/10.
Lackluster story and main quest conclusion: -1 point
Companions are generally boring, Iron Bull's romance: -0.5 point
Lack of qunari customization: -0.5 point
Combat (AI and tactical camera): -0.5 point
Unfulfilled promises/hype: -0.5 point
Gameplay
On my PC (iMac bought in mid-2011), DAI is such a pain to play. My FPS is between 15-20. Everything's in slo-mo. The dramatic pauses in conversations are even more dramatic now. And there's much more to be desired gameplay-wise, and frankly I find the story not really engaging. I'm sure my PC is probably as much to blame as DAI is buggy (SO BUGGY, in all the important places) but it's only 3.5 years old it's hard to accept it's no longer "decent" to play on. Word of advice, don't think an iMac can double as a gaming machine. Ugh.
The UI is bad. I can't imagine why you would lock us out of our abilities, outside of the 8 we assigned to the hotbar. At level 20, I have more than 8 abilities per character and I can't even activate them in the abilities page. Spirit Mark is a particular nuisance because the enemy's spirit won't drop loot, or won't let the battle end even when it's over. Mages can't move when they're casting. Static Charge never seemed to work. Running during battle is slower and using Fade Step as a form of transportation puts me in battle mode. It's so hard to control my game on PC. It takes away a lot of fun in combat.
Most of the combat abilities are really cool. But the AI is a step back. We don't have the tactics conditions this time around and I thought, wow my companions must be very capable. Wrong. The warriors never knew when to stop using Charging Bull. They ran so far. To be honest, I only used Charging Bull for traveling. So. Handy. Much faster than mounts. They always use Grappling Chain on the target I'm meleeing, it's so stupid I laughed. Made me run unnecessarily. In slo-mo. The mages don't know how to use their spells. They wouldn't use Static Cage on that Despair Demon, and won't use Barrier when they're hurting, and they won't use Dispel when demons are spawning. Dorian keeps using Horror when I'm trying to aggro. Made me run unnecessarily. In slo-mo. Varric doesn't know when to use his Fallback Plan and the Artificer tree synergizes so poorly with his archery. Cole keeps getting himself hurt when 2H Warriors are AOEing. Micromanaging the team is tiring. The tactical mode is unusable. Now I attack my companions when I click on them (I just wanted to control them). Most of the fights I just let my team die while swinging my Spirit Blade in god mode. In slo-mo. I couldn't rotate my characters while equipping them, which I could now, somehow. Maybe because I downloaded the update?
The loading screens take so long to finish. The game crashes and freezes. Yes, my rig is partly to blame but it shouldn't happen to THIS extent when I'm above the min requirements!
What happened to interacting with objects? DAO and DA2 had automatic pathfinding when we click on an interact-able object.
Quests/Story
The side quests out-volume the main quests at least 2 to 1, which is supposed to be lovely for such a rich world of Thedas. I even enjoyed the fetch quests. But it just makes the main quests feel less important to me. It's less end-of-the-world, and more there's-so-much-to-do-even-during-the-end-of-the-world-yay! It takes away the urgency, though I'm not sure how to balance that. The first half of the main quests were great. I enjoyed seeing Cory making a come back. The mage quest was alright. Except that Anora and Alistair marched in so awkwardly. They were both so different I wasn't sure-sure it was them. Alistair said soooo little. I was surprised it was over just like that. The latter half, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Heart, Here Lies the Abyss, and Doom Upon All The World were rather disappointing.
Wicked Eyes and Wicked Heart: Someone mentioned that the Orlesian Civil War was resolved in one night, that it's too fast. I agree. I couldn't feel the Civil War outside of the Exalted Plains. Even inside that region, it's mostly chevaliers vs. demons. (I skipped most of that part so I'll need to go back later.) I can't feel/see the elves' uprising or the effects of it anywhere. I made the 3 powers (Celene, Gaspard and Briala) make good but I can't really see many consequences. Where's Briala? Where's Gaspard? Celene's just standing there at the start of The Final Piece. What else? On top of that, the companions I brought with me were useless. I didn't bring Vivienne because I didn't like her. More than that, Dorian, Iron Bull and Cole seemed like a fun combination to bring to a Ball. Nope. They were so dull and unresponsive. I would assume that Vivienne has the biggest involvement, but I have to check. The concept of political/covert gameplay is awesome but it was poorly executed. I had more fun with Tallis in DA2, not taking into account the pro-qunari bits.
As for Here Lies the Abyss, I really enjoyed seeing Hawke. But he's different. He's not my character anymore. Although to be fair, perhaps he's never been my character from the beginning. Besides Hawke and the comeback of Loghain, which I enjoyed, the quest never really resonated with me. Clarel was so stupid. The highlight of the quest was actually the Fade. Though barren and creepy, the Fade was really interesting and meeting the Divine was very cool. The biggest choice to be made in this quest was whether to let Hawke or the Warden companion die. I'd be so pissed if I imported Warden Alistair but he's King so it wasn't a hard decision for me. Time for Loghain to repay his debt to the Thedas. Then, Hawke left, just like that. Why? No Varric-Hawke bromance? I expected that. But their interactions were so scarce. Cassandra said absolutely nothing to Hawke. No one said anything to Hawke. Is that the banter bug? Because there's less than 10 banter instances in my 100 hour playthrough (Origin says 200).
Needless to say, the final boss final, Doom Upon All The World, was the most boring gameplay in DAI, and in any gaming I've played. Even worst than exploring caves in Pokemon. Perhaps not. No, caves in Pokemon were worst. It was challenging for my companions because they are most definitely undergeared, compared to my Inquisitor. I'm not even sure if I'm undergeared myself. Everyone used looted weapons because they're simply better than the crafted ones. And I didn't craft any armor for my companions because I don't want to waste materials on tier 2 schematics. But we're all above level 18 so I thought it'd be fine. So, all of them died while I was still in god-mode slashing away. Grinding. I'm sure people would say it's on me if it took so long, since a lot finished the fight in 10 minutes. I don't know, I was playing Knight Enchanter, using the Grand Enchanter's Staff at 146 DPS. I had the best gear on me already. Cory had nothing interesting to say. The cutscenes were short and dull. I've seen all of it in the trailers, apparently. That was disappointing.
Also disappointing was the Inner Circle Quests. They're just fetch quests for the most part.
Cullen: fetch papers from 3 groups. (after watching some youtube videos, I found that there's another part to Cullen's personal quest, which didn't trigger for me since I skipped Emprise du Lion for the final main quest. This is stupid. the main quests SHOULD scale upwards with our levels. Giving us recommended levels but without telling us if there's any content we missed? Stupid.)
Leliana: very simple and short quest that's not a fetch quest
Josephine: a little longer string of little quests that's not interesting
Casssandra: kill 5 groups, Guilty Pleasure was awesome
Dorian: kill 3 groups, The Last Resort of Good Men was pretty good actually. Wished more follow-up with it though.
Sera: hers was pretty good
Blackwall: nice quest but I didn't like it though
Solas: break these columns without killing the demon! Measuring the Veil and the subsequent finding and activating of the artifacts is rather awkward.
Cole: nice quest
Vivienne: find and kill a creature
Iron Bull: really simple and short. kill groups of enemies until you get to the decision point. Needs more work on the execution because the outcomes/choices aren't not convincing. And we lack an option to support IB's own choice.
Varric: break 12 things after killing those who guard them. Well, **** was rather short but at least we got to meet Bianca. I don't like her though. Who is she to give us the Father Talk?
Companions, Banter
I have nothing to say on Banter, because there's NO banter for me. I still wanted to hold off going to youtube because I wanted to listen in-game. I'll see about this when I play later, after the patch.
Surprisingly, Cassandra was the only one who stood out for me. She is just so cute. If I ever start a second playthrough, she'd be the first one I'll romance. Solas became so annoying in the second half of the game. Vivienne and Sera were annoying from the start. Varric and Dorian were nice. Iron Bull was disappointing for me because of his romance. I was a bit devastated, really. I called it quits after the first sex scene, reloading from after the committed sex scene. Moved on to Dorian, who's... nice. Blackwall I'll never look again in the same light. Cole I like very much. He's such an interesting character. I agonized on whether to make him more human or spirit but decided on human because I thought it'd be what he wanted. To help in deeper ways. To understand more. But I need to admit that it's the warped Spirit of Compassion who's thinking that, not the pure Spirit. Without the banter, besides Cassandra and Cole, none of the characters left much an impression on me. Iron Bull is a different story, though. Same with the sentiments I had with previous games, I still wished there could be more we could do with our companions. Each companion maybe has, 2 to 3 short cutscenes iirc? Remember the slogans (?) for each companion? Dorian the Redeemer, Blackwall the Resolve, Sera the Wildcard? Considering their personal quests, overstatements.
EDIT: After listening to DanaDauchy's videos, I must say that the dialogues are entertaining but again, only Cassandra, Dorian and Cole stood out for me. The voice acting is superb, though.
I loved the Wicked Grace cutscene, though. It was heartwarming. I wonder why Vivienne and Leliana wasn't there. Was it scripted? Or are they variables based on how much we've interacted?
My hang-ups with Iron Bull are documented in a different thread:
1. http://forum.bioware...sks/?p=17921602
2. http://forum.bioware...sks/?p=17927323
3. http://forum.bioware...post&p=17952902
4. http://forum.bioware...post&p=17954024
5. http://forum.bioware...post&p=17965145
In short, I found Iron Bull to be hypocritical and manipulative in his romance, with his talk about "respect," his rules, his psychoanalysis of the Inquisitor. "You don't get to have a say in your sex life because that's disrespectful and I know best. (I will serve and) make you feel good, but only in a way that I approve." Wow, okay. You do you and I'll do Dorian.
Dorian's romance scenes were ruined because his pupils are missing. Also, somehow, he's taller than my qunari Inquisitor, who was standing, when he whispered seductively into his ear. The last scene was awkward because he was hugging from behind and he was swaying his head side to side, perhaps trying to look at the scenery, through my Inquisitor's back? Or perhaps it was intended for humans/elves and that was where the human/elf Inquisitor's shoulders should be.
What happened to being able to know our companions better? Deeper romances? The amount of interaction feels about the same as DAO and DA2's.
Characterization and Visuals
I loved most of the levels. Even at Low graphics settings, they looked so pretty. But the mountains I hate. Oh How I Hated Them. And the Forbidden Oasis. Is. A freaking maze. The crafting system, and the CC, I must say is the most extensive of all DA games. I love the artistic direction DAI went. Compared to DAO and DA2, the characters look really good. But unfortunately that still didn't help me create the character I wanted because to my experience, the non-human races all have racial facial structures that you can't escape from. What I wanted for the elf and my qunari Inquisitors are apparently too human. The result is: fugliness. I tried to make my qunari Inquisitor the least fugly as I possibly could and I'm still not satisfied with him. But, considering that I had to face swap my DAO elf with Soris, a great improvement.
Moreover, the body models are horrid for the elves and the qunari males. The elves are so freakishly thin you wouldn't think of the word "lithe." The qunari is so far from the concept art I cringed. We look so bloated and big. There's nothing aesthetic about it. The hands are awkwardly big. There's little muscle to be proud of, and the qunari is a race with high musculature.
Furthermore, qunari customization options are honestly limited. From hairstyles, which is supposed to be extremely important, to helmets, from the body model to the armor, it seemed like the qunari got the short end of the stick. Perhaps the 1 year delay wasn't enough to fully implement such a different race? The hair options are just so bad for everyone. I wouldn't mind clipping for long hair (though I'm not using long hair on my characters) if my Inquisitor is clipping everywhere: chin, hands, torso. What doesn't my Inquisitor clip in this game?
I was so disappointed that the qunari Inquisitor didn't get to wear a mask to the Winter Palace. I mean, what's there to stop us? The horns are UP there! We still have ears, don't we? Helmets, I understand. Just look at Iron Bull's helmet, Dread. But masks? Ornamental masks for Orlais, protective masks like those from HoDA? The vitaar is... disappointing. Why can't we get similar designs to the qunari in DA2? Those were cool. Instead, we get a few clown face-paint to choose from. A lot of cool armor is limited to "human or elf-trained characters." What does that even mean? The wording is weird. The ones qunari are able to wear are so... bad. And I can't even be shirtless like Iron Bull! What's with that? I'm qunari! Then, in Skyhold, I'm stuck in this awful-looking, uncomfortably tight pajamas. Although I've seen cool armor on the qunari Inquisitor from Reddit but we need to farm those. Being only able to wear good-looking armor after the endgame is a bad move. Of course, we could spend a lot of time farming the schematics and the materials but that's so boring I would only do that after the endgame. And, there's a recommended level range for the boss-fight, and I wanted to follow that, which meant I'm going to have to skip at least (most of) 5 areas (Hissing Wastes, Forbidden Oasis, Emprise du Lion, Emerald Graves, Exalted Plains), though I understand that some of them are meant for the endgame. We should be able to equip good looking armor at an early level. Given that most light armor look way awkward on a qunari male, I stuck with the Dragon armor, which is just a bit better. I have to wait until near the endgame for silverite to be able to wear better armor. I used them on the Heavy Dragon armor because I don't want to farm schematics just yet.
In general, the body models for elves and qunari suck. The hair all around suck. Do elves have no body hair?
Deeper companion interactions, quests and romances
You know, people are saying that we should stop pre-ordering games. It sends a message that we're going to accept whatever you throw at us. With Bioware, even after ME3 and DA2, I still trusted them. I went ahead and pre-ordered. I'm still very much invested in the DA universe but I've learnt my lesson now.
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