Well, you have to keep in mind that there are significant differences between the console and the PC version. We also had high expectations and believed in everything BioWare told us before launch, only to be surprised by a completely different game. It's false advertising and BioWare rightfully deserves criticism for that. Btw... it's interesting how some people voted for the game before it was live, could explain how it got GOTY so easily.
Knowing that BioWare already let me down with ME3 and SW:TOR, I tried to avoid any and all news and updates prior to launch. I actually had no idea about my companions or the story or anything in DA:I before I started it. I tried to go into it with no expectations, because I knew it couldn't live up to the hype.
Let's have a closer look at my personal experience with the game. I bought the Digital Deluxe version through Origin, preloaded it and then had to wait until release day, which for some reason was 2 or 3 days later than for US gamers. Fine, I had to avoid forums for a couple of days or I'd get spoilers. No big deal, just irritating. Release day. I launched the game to see if it runs properly before going to work and it took ages to start. First thing greeting me was a pointless splash screen that demanded a mouse click to continue. At this point I realized this was a console port. I went into the settings, set all graphics to ultra and ran the benchmark. 52fps on average, I was good to go. I started a new game. Character creation confused me at first, then I went with one of the default looks and made a human mage. A few cutscenes later I'm being interrogated by Leliana and Cassandra, whose voices echo and reverb badly, it sounded like each one was a choir. The animations were lagging and I got asked questions that I couldn't possibly answer because I lacked the background knowledge. Well fine, I went with empathy and wanting to help. Cass finally dragged me out of the building, we looked up at the Breach and the moment I finally got control of my character, the game crashed to desktop. DirectX error. Well, okay, something to fix later. I went to work and started the game up again in the evening.
I lowered a few settings to high instead of ultra, stumbled through the tutorial, accidently jumping each time I wanted to pause and somehow made it to Haven where my game crashed again, telling me that 32GB of RAM are not enough. Ooookay. I spent almost an hour changing the keybindings so I could play the game without hurting my hands.
As you can see, I wasn't too happy with the game at this point. Still, I continued to play it and at each corner it reminded me that it was meant to be played on a console. I have a long list of game elements that frustrated or confused me and I have a short list of things that I enjoyed. What really broke the game for me is the realisation that it was rushed and is basically unfinished.
I really don't feel like going into detail right here and now, cause it would be depressing and prevent me from ever finishing my first playthrough. DA:I is not a bad game and I can see why people enjoy playing it. I guess I simply have different standards because I played lots of games that did it better. One review praised the facial animations and lip sync of DA:I... uhm. While it's better than DA:O or DAII, it doesn't come even close to L.A. Noire.
So yeah, perhaps I'm no longer part of the core target demographic because I actually prefer to play older games that did it right instead of wrestling with shiny but empty and frustrating DA:I.
Seriously, I almost have to force myself to start the game up and I doubt I will play it again once I'm through. Not as it is. Every other DA or ME game I played for hours every day, long into the night. I had to force myself to stop and eat/sleep. With DA:I? Perhaps I play 2-3 hours every other day, if I am bored enough. It's more likely that I play ME3MP instead though. Or start up Skyrim or BG1 or NWN2 again.
I can see that my companions were written well, the voice actors are bringing them to life and their quests help to flesh them out. I still can't connect to them somehow. I was in love with Isabella and Merril in DAII, Varric made me laugh and I really liked having most of them around. Perhaps the tone in DA:I is too serious, perhaps I'm mentally exhausted from all the grinding, collecting, crafting, equipping and simply running around I have to do between each quest.
I just do not have enough fun with this game. There are various reasons for this and I understand that other people have a vastly different experience.
To quote myself from another thread:
Some people love the game, some hate it. Some are somewhere in the middle.
Reviews are always at least partly subjective. You enjoy the game? I'm happy for you. My experience with it is rather negative.
What everyone here needs to remember is that there is no single truth. Emotions colour our experiences far more than we are aware. A gamer playing DA:I on a new console probably has no technical difficulties and doesn't have to deal with weird controls while a PC gamer needs half an hour just to get the settings configured correctly. That alone can make the difference between "I love this game!" and "I want my money back!".
I will never attempt to convince someone who had fun playing DA:I that they shouldn't have enjoyed the game. If it works for you, perfect. In return I expect that people do not try to belittle my issues with a game that frustrates me.
Yes, I miss many elements of old games in newer games. In return, new games do a lot of things better than the old ones. We can discuss this civilly and figure out how to improve DA:I so everyone can enjoy it.
Arguments like "I had fun, you must be doing it wrong." or "This game drives me up the wall, why do you accept this?!" lead nowhere and are unproductive.
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