Well, I just finished my second playthrough. I think I like this game 
Here are my thoughts. SPOILERS!
To begin with, I was seriously pissed off that the game was unplayable when I first got it. I had to go through 5 EA Chat advisors and get a computer expert friend to tweak my settings TWICE before I could play the game. Considering that I got a brand new gaming laptop for DA:I and all my specs were at least on the "Recommended" level, this was seriously off-putting. Please do better next time... I don't have a TV for console gaming!
But I'm patient and was very desperate to play DA:I, so anyway.
First, the scale of this game is overwhelming. That's both good and bad. It's good because it really felt like I was playing a work of grand ambition, and this made the whole story feel a lot more ambitious and sweeping in very nice, ego-stroking ways. The sheer amount of progress you make as you develop from prisoner to Inquisitor is nothing short of awesome; the changing ways in which the inquisition advisors, companions and random NPCs treat you as evolve and as the story evolves worked wonderfully well. A complete and utter improvement over DA2's abrupt and non-engaging developments in station and story.
But I think this grand scale worked to game's disadvantage at times. The overall impression I get of DA:I's quest system is that it is quite bloated. There are simply way too many filler quests that do nothing but waste time. I understand a certain amount of filler quests are to be expected in any game, but this was a whole new level of intolerable in terms or frequency and quality (the Druffalo and Halla quests were just pure crap). I'd much prefer fewer quests in exchange for quests that actively enhance the player-narrative experience... more story-relevant, or just plain interesting and emotionally-engaging mini-stories would be great. The sheer scale of the game also meant a distinct loss of cinematic value to the quest-givers and quest-completion aspects of the game; while I understand this is a necessary sacrifice, it does take away some of the satisfaction of finding new quests or turning them in. It also takes a lot of of dialogue because you simply can't see the facial expressions and the options for gesticulating are gone.
I hate to make too many comparisons to DAO, but I can't help it here. The scale in DAO was literally just right. The world is facing an epic threat, but there's more than enough room for detailed character development and crafting an intimate-enough experience of the world. DA2 was TOO intimate and small in scale. No matter what you did, you felt like it didn't quite matter. DAI is the polar opposite; it is too large in scale; your footsteps make the world tremble, but all the lovely juicy story bits that exquisitely rounded out the companions and important NPCs were somewhat lacking.
That being said, I thought the key cinematic moments that hinge the main-plot were very well done. So many moments jump out at me; the Post-Haven Singalong, Leliana's Death Charge, the You-Are-Now-Inquisitor! Ambush, the Divine's Second Sacrifice, and Morrigan's Family Reunion... those were all awesome moments. The facial expressions were all perfect (particularly Flemeth's after Morrigan tells her what a bad mother she was, and the Divine's as she realises she's going to die), but I have to say the lip-syncing sucks. That's the only complaint I have with regards to the sequences; the lip-syncing. Everything else is quite perfect to me, I only wish they weren't so few and far between - as I mentioned before, the narrative progression can feel quite stilted because of the bloated number of quests. As a completionist on the game for the first time, I'm paranoid about missing out on stuff, so I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING. That worked out really well in DAO, and even Mass Effect. Not so much in DA2 or DAI. You just feel used instead of smugly satisfied.
There was also a marked improvement in how the game made you feel about the choices you make as PC. In DAO you seem to have quite a lot of control; you choose which armies serve you, who is left in power, and so on. DA2 was legendarily bad at giving players the illusion of choice, but I quite liked how DAI handled it, especially with regards to the Divine. It made choice more about how you played the game overall, rather than a arbitrary dialogue choice. Even if you said you wanted Cassandra as Divine, if your choices throughout the game favoured Leliana, that's the Divine you got. That was really cool; how you didn't even see your own choice coming. Very nice combination of unpredictability and player agency. More please.
I did feel that the Dragon Age DNA did get diluted a little though, in terms of the overall FEEL of the story. In DAO, and to a lesser extent DA2, there was a palpable feeling that this was a DARK FANTASY, where no craps were given about delicate sensibilities.
DAO is easily the greatest example of this; there were so many moments that had a real sense of HORROR and EDGE to them... most notably the revelation of how Broodmothers came to be (I actually went "OHMYGAWDDDD EWWW!" when I realised what the heck happened to Laryn), and the Blood Magic Sex Ritual at the end (to me, the sex part is not gratuitous because it really smacked of those ancient 'pagan' rituals involving lots of sex and blood to ensure fertile farmlands and stuff). The entire Deep Roads sequence was the highlight of all my playthroughs because of how the feelings of dread and claustrophobia build up as you descend deeper and deeper into the storyline. Plus, the dwarves are just twisted and creepy and therefore awesome to see more of. The part about making Isolde sacrifice her entire blood supply for her son is also pretty high on my list of edgy moments because she was just so ANNOYING you wanted to kill her at first. And then you realise you can actually kill her, but the manner of it is quite horrifying and you feel quite evil for vindicating your petty dislike of that bint. Anyway I think you see my point. DAO was indisputably a dark fantasy, and it was a very very well wrought dark fantasy based on tangible and consistent moments of horror and how many aspects of Thedas challenged the traditional tropes of fantasy.
My point is that there was no where during DAI where I felt like going grabbing my face and shouting "OHMYGAWWD" at my screen. The closest DAI has come to the dark horror elements of the previous games was with the Templars and the Envy demon, but that was purely optional and is the ONLY example I can think of (the red lyrium growing out of people is pretty on the level, but that was barely delved into so it doesn't quite count; if only Sahrnia made how the farming of red lyrium was done more explicit, but oh well).
There were many points where I felt intrigued and even moved by the story (I seriously felt so bad for Divine Justinia; how could you put a nice old lady in harm's way and NOT let us rescue her Bioware??? HOW?), but nowhere where I was actually mind-blown at staring into the dark abyss of human imagination, like with Branka and Hespith. I could possibly compare the Well of Sorrows choice with the Old God Sex Ritual, but the Old God Sex Ritual just had so much more character to it because of the possible romantic implications and how it reflected on how you played the game. That's what I fell in love with in DAO; the sense that I was in a story and universe that was uniquely dark but not gratuitous in terms of shock value. DAI has a great story, but much of what made Dragon Age uniquely dark and challenging was somewhat absent this time round. I did get hints of it in the revelations that the Elven Pantheon was possibly a bunch of crazed villains, but that's not actually delved into. The mosaics in the Temple were creepy though.
Another aspect where I felt the DA DNA was a little diluted were the romances and relationships. I was actually quite intrigued with the choices, but I was definitely disappointed when I realised the romances had absolutely no greater bearing on the story. In previous Bioware games, romances and relationships were always optional, but they also always ENHANCED the story. The best example I can think of is Morrigan. The twists and turns she brought you through were just so juicy and amazing... you could feel frustrated with her, but also helplessly intrigued. The superb plot-twist she pulled on my Warden at the end was just so unimaginably perfect because it challenged my idea of what I thought he was; it forced me to re-evaluate his character and choices throughout the story. And because he had romanced her, it made the twist and climax so much more dramatic. This would have been the same even if I had romanced Leliana or Allistair; basically, having pursued a romance in the story would have definitely ENHANCED your experience of the DAO storyline; it added such greatly textured layers of manipulation, deceit and sacrifice... it made things murky and edgy at the same time. It was story-telling GENIUS.
But this never happens in DAI; there's no point in the story where I feel the romance enhances the plot. I could have romanced and broken up with either Cassandra or Josephine and felt very little about it. The romance basically ends with the side quest, and that really just sucks when the bar was set by Morrigan. There was no point in the game where you are called on to make hard choices BECAUSE of your love, or where the romance serves to add layers to the PC.
This brings me back to the "bloatedness" of the game, because I think the characters are superbly written... just that the story is too overstretched to give them the exposure they deserve. Many of their personal quests are tiny and without follow-up. Dorian's personal quest is an example; it gives you this incredibly tantalising hint into his character, but then it finishes and that's basically that. The same with Cassandra; she's given more attention and I love the bits about her being into smutty literature. I can't say she's given a skeletal personal quest, but there's just so much left wanting in her personal development, and especially with her romantic development. ME2 did a much better job endearing your companions to you despite the drastic increase in squad size... I had hoped for the same with DAI, but was frankly disappointed by the bare-bones content (made worse by the silent banter bug - or whatever it is). Plus, the fact that your companions can actually die in ME2 based on the choices you make, does make things much more dramatic and exciting; it actually compels you to play the game better. I never felt that with DAI.
That's what I really love about Bioware games. The stories are always great. But the companions are what make you invest further in what is just appealing narratively; they make you emotionally attached to the journey and the outcome. I'm not saying this didn't happen in DAI, but it did happen to a weaker extent. I'm not raving about the characters as I did in DAO or ME. I like them, but they simply don't affect me the way the others did.
Okay, now on to the smaller critiques. I really loved the whole Halamshiral part, and how it was mostly non-combat. It would have been much cooler if the Inquisitor could actually speak with members of the nobility and have court favour rise and fall on the dialogue or action choices, but eavesdropping works too. There should really be more of this (alternatives to violence in furthering the plot I mean, not eavesdropping quests).
The combat. I normally don't care about the combat. I honestly don't. I never complained about DA2's controversial combat mechanics because I just didn't care that much. Also, I always play as a warrior because a) most of the time that's what appeals the most to me in terms of the story, 
I like uncomplicated gameplay. But this game's mechanics made it VERY tedious to play as a warrior. To have to run after the baddies and press R all the time... that just sucks Bioware. I played a mage this time just so I didn't have to do that. That's how much it sucked to a person who normally doesn't care about sucky combat mechanics.
And! There were so many parts that just felt superfluous (or not as well crafted). The mounts for example. That was just extra. I appreciated the distance-eating aspect, but I hardly used them because I wanted to hear more banter! And, the crafting. I did enjoy that, and I spent a lot of time crafting all sorts of gear for my crew. But the option for colour choice should really be in; I actually chose materials based on colour, because I couldn't stand the sight of my inquisitor traipsing all about Thedas in a pink and purple suit. Not that there's anything wrong with pink and purple, but it just looks ridiculous on armour. I did make Iron Bull's armour out of Dawnstone though, because he mentioned he thought it was pretty. The hair choices for the male inquisitor are also appallingly poor (along with the super-shiny black hair that looks like I had an extra helmet made entirely out of hair gel). I need an achingly good-looking protagonist Bioware. Please do better.
Finally, the War Table. I can appreciate the value of this extra mechanic, but after a while it just got tedious and repetitive. It would have helped if the Inquisitor could have been involved more personally in what was going on, or if the consequences of the various missions had an appreciable impact on the storyline (even if a conversation or cut scene afterward), it would have felt much more worth it. The rewards just weren't quite high enough, and after a while all the juicy-sounding mission briefs just leave you feeling just a little bit cheated because there's no gameplay involved... just Influence increases. Meh.
To end on a high note, I am very, very impressed with the art direction this time round. There is just so much sumptuous and exquisite beauty in each and every of the places you go to, and each place did have it's distinct character that was brought to life in an endless variety of details. Again this is not something I normally pay much attention to. I'm really a story-centred gamer. But this game was just incredibly beautiful. A blog post or something on some the design choices would be great; I'm particularly interested to read the reasoning behind all the different outfits and outfit themes for the different regions. Could you please explain why Solas dresses like an Apostate Hobo? I made him the ultimate mage armour and he looked positively overwhelmed by it.
All in all, even though I felt that it doesn't quite live up to the promise of its roots, I very much enjoyed DAI, and I can't wait for the next one.
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