I figure one more review can't hurt. I'm going to list 10 things which I thought could be improved on, and 10 things I'd love to see expanded.
Personal history possibly worth knowing: I've played Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II on both PC and Xbox 360. I've only played Dragon Age: Inquisition on the PC. I never raised the difficulty above normal unless there was an achievement attached, and Dragon Age: Origins was my first video game. I've gone back and messed around on DAO and DA2 recently, so their style of combat and cutscenes are currently fresh on my mind.
Onwards.
10 Things I'd like to see fixed/improved (in no particular order):
1.) Including static cutscenes. I had difficulty paying attention to my Inquisitor and whomever they were speaking with when there wasn't a real cutscene. I'd spin the camera randomly, and try to make weird shapes with my mouse while spinning. I've never been a huge fan of books on tape, though, so it's worth noting that I may simply lack the ability to pay close attention when there's few visuals to capture my interest. A possible solution to this might just be allowing the ability (or just including it) to anchor the camera on someone's shoulder while a conversation happens (similar to how camp conversations went in Dragon Age: Origins). I enjoy seeing the facial expressions, light as they are, on my companion's faces, and even just something basic like switching between shoulders (showing the NPC's face for one part of the conversation, then switching to show the Inquisitor's face) might have been nicer for me. This, however, is a fairly minor complaint and I wouldn't feel strongly one way or another if this was addressed in the next game.
2.) Differentiating the side quests. I tend to love imagining my own backstory when taking the light-on-the-details side missions. So I wasn't overly affected by how many there were. I would say, however, that uplifting a few into basic cutscene mode (like DAO) would really help make some of the more important ones stand out, as well as help players to feel more invested (it's difficult to feel invested in helping that widow find her husband's ring when I can't even see her angry face). I, personally, also enjoy reading the codexes that are included with some of the missions, so I know that helps me become more interested in what I'm doing, but I know some players either don't read/ save them for later, so worth keeping in mind.
3.) Skyhold has holes. I'm going to give Bioware the benefit of the doubt here and guess that Skyhold with see further reconstruction in future releases relating to Inquisition. Even so, I think it's worth mentioning that having a hole in the wall when I go to my war table (I don't think it gets fixed, but if I'm remembering incorrectly, please let me know and I'll adjust what I've written) is a bit exasperating. And seeing bits of wood on the floor or propped up in the corner on the way to my room is silly. I could just toss those extra bits of unusable wood out the hole ![]()
4.) A storage facility. While the game is without a doubt certainly playable without such a thing, it's really a nice feature to have. I dislike how some of the materials needed for the requisitions live in my valuables folder. This essentially means I have to either buyback each time if I'm lazy, or go through and make sure I don't sell something I want to keep. It would be also nice to have a place to keep the unique items, since I tend to play a bit sentimentally, which leads me to my next point..
5.) Many items no longer seem to have little descriptions. Again, a very minor thing, but this was something I really missed from Origins. I enjoyed picking up a random item, nonchalantly reading the little description, and then realizing with glee that the item was directly referencing a book, or a past game, or something (anyone remember Katriel's Grasp from Origins? One of my favorite finds). Especially with the items that have been specifically color coded as unique, I think it'd be a nice touch to have things like that again. But only if there was a storage unit. Otherwise my inventory would constantly be full (oh wait maybe that's why there isn't a description
)
6.) A mirror feature. It would give me more of a reason to occasionally drop in my Inquisitor's chambers. I wouldn't necessarily be constantly changing my Inquisitor's face (I've gotten pretty good at getting what I want to see from the CCs), but even just changing the hair once in a while would be nice. In Dragon Age II, I loved the fact that I could show the years going by by having my Hawke's hair get progressively longer each act. And since this isn't really a full blown complaint, I wouldn't mind seeing more hairstyles. But that'd just be icing on the cake for me at this point.
7.) That casual outfit. There isn't much to say here. I don't mind the outfit too much (although my poor Adaar looks like he's been stuffed into it), but even just having 1-3 other options would be a nice touch. I'm also going to tack on the Halamshiral outfit. While definitely minor, I'd would've loved to see my Lavellan in a dress (even if she has to climb a trellis in it).
8.) The tactical camera. I didn't have any major complaints with the combat. It certainly took some getting used to, as it's very different from both Origins and DA2, but once I did I found it to be much more immersive than any of the previous titles' combat styles. My major complaint here was just the height of the tactical camera. It only felt like it was useful when all my people were in a cluster (and since I always had 1-2 ranged, that never happened). And fighting dragons! That was icky when I couldn't see the whole battlefield. It there were a way to raise the height of the tactical camera without causing instability in the game, I'd really hope to see that happen in the future.
9.) The Non-diabolical Inquisitor. This is another point where I'm going to give Bioware the benefit of the doubt, since I felt the ending of Inquisition had a lot in common with the implications shown in the ending of Mass Effect 2 (current bad guy defeated, greater power still out there, etc.). Your Inquisitor certainly had the ability to be a jerk to those around them, but there didn't seem to be many opportunities to be overtly evil or generally impolite to the world around you. This may be because having such options might mess with future content planned for the Inquisitor (hence my benefit of the doubt). That being said, I don't play evil characters very often (I felt very guilty playing renegade Shepard), but this is something I've seen other people mention, so I thought it worth including here.
10.) Console commands. I feel like many issues that arose in Inquisition (in terms of quests not activating or showing completion properly) might have been avoided if there'd been a way to force start/end these (I'm in particular thinking of Solas' 3rd mission never starting, or the Tomb of the Emerald Knight's one never finishing because apparently I never went back to the tomb, even though it's literally filled with the corpses of my enemies). I also wouldn't say no to having a way to get that one resource you're short of, because it is very irritating to have 7/8 cloth for an armor you want to make, and having no clear way to go...harvest that cloth. Or whatever.
Alright! That was long. Now I'm going to list 10 things I thought Bioware did really well and that I'd love to see more of!
(in no particular order)
1.) The crafting system. I actually really did like this once I got accustomed to how it worked. I liked how many options I had in terms of strategy (my rogue was a walking fortress of death. It was glorious) and appearance. I'd love to see more schematics added in future content/installments, as well as perhaps the possibility of adding arm/leg schematics to race/class unique variants (such as the Dalish Scout Armor). There's really a lot of role playing potential here, and it's something I think was well implemented.
2.) What list of good things Bioware did would be complete without a mention to the characters? Unsurprisingly, the characters came across as fleshed out, with serious thought given to how their cultural differences and upbringings would affect them. What I can say was delightfully surprising (for me, at least) was how different the characters were from what I had expected. I obviously had some idea for Cassandra, and Varric I already knew, but some of the behaviors of the Iron Bull and Solas and Sera were very much not what I expected to see from them (I avoided all game play footage of these characters before the game, so that obviously helped).
3.) Dragon fights. I really enjoyed the dragon fights. At first, I was extremely apprehensive of Bioware's cutting of the healing trees and unlimited potions, but their doing so forced me to take a closer look at the tactics and take a larger role in how the fights played out (I was that person who whipped out 100+ elfroot potions for DAO, grabbed Wynne, my warden, and my two tankiest NPCs, and grimly spammed the heal and potions button). I also want to point out that the feeling of victory that comes from beating your first dragon is awesome. That is something I would be more than happy to experience again.
4.) Graphics in general. I was playing Inquisition on an average laptop. The specs weren't anything special, Nvidia told me repeatedly that the optimal specs were basically out of my league, and yet I still found them to be enjoyable. I tinkered with the settings on my own, allowing my characters to have high resolutions (no shiny plastic hair for me!), but sacrificing some quality in the terrain and plant life. And despite all this, I still found them to be really nice. Perfect? Nah. But for a game with limited options (seeing as they can't render very much beforehand), I thought my Inquisitors looked really nice, and really unique, compared to the occasional same face my Hawkes and Wardens suffered at times.
5.) Val Royeaux. Although the scope was somewhat limited (I'd have loved to explore the various districts and see for my own eyes the distinction between the streets of the Summer District and the squalor of the alienage), I thought as far as design and atmosphere went, this was really nicely done. I hadn't been certain what to expect from Val Royeaux, having heard of it and knowing that Orlesians seemed prone to finery, but I enjoyed seeing the differences between this city and what we got to see in Denerim. If anything, I'd love to get an opportunity to visit more cities, even if we can't/don't have any reason to visit multiple sections of one.
6.) Connecting moments of the past. I haven't done a huge variety of playthroughs yet, but from my world state I enjoyed seeing the various things that got referenced and mentioned here, such as seeing Conor at Redcliffe, or seeing what happens to your Warden companion (depending on who it is). I certainly expect there were some discrepancies for some players, but to manage such a long and detailed timeline without error seems an impossible task (the books alone are filled with enough details as it is), so I'll just say that I personally was really pleased with seeing the results of my actions here and there, without having them shoved in my face (sort of like what Mass Effect 3 did with every NPC making a reappearance).
7.) Relying on lore. I assume there's always this series of debates that take place in a studio when they're deciding how much to reference from old games and how much to make new, so as to welcome any newcomers to the franchise. And given how the events played out in Inquisition, I thought it was a good balance. Any new players who didn't read any codex entries or speak often with their companions was never going to fully understand everything that was happening around them. That's not to say they would necessarily be confused (depends on the player), but if one didn't read the books or play the games or both, details were going to get missed. So I suppose all I can say here, since this is very much a personal opinion, was that I felt pleased to see my collection of random memories from the prior games and books showing up in various ways in the game, and making the experience so much the better for it.
8.) The war table. Ignoring the glitches attached to it (thank god for autosave. My game would crash at times when I tried to enter the room), I thought the idea here was a lot of fun. Granted, some of the missions Leliana would do sounded more fun than some of the side missions presented on the maps, but I figured it wasn't crazy to think that our companions/advisors would also lead exciting fictional lives. I enjoyed being able to send agents out to do things, and the methods I chose often had a tangible effect on how the goal was achieved, if achieved at all. I would recommend connecting some of the missions back into the game itself. What I mean by this would be something along the lines showing how your Inquisitor reacts to some of the results of their choices. For example, depending on who you sent to aid your clan as a Lavellan, the outcome could change drastically. If the outcome was not...ideal, I think it would have been appropriate to have that commented on by your companions. Just a thought.
9.) Bringing back old characters. While I would admit that my blood mage Hawke's sudden disapproval of blood magic seemed a little off, it wasn't so bad I couldn't find a way to fit it into my head canon. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this! I'm not sure if it would work well with other main characters, but for Hawke, given that his/her personality could often be separated into three distinct attitudes, it worked very well. My witty Hawke had noticeable dialog differences from my diplomatic Hawke, which I certainly approved of. I also found the decision in the fade to be out of left field (in a good way!) and definitely had to sit and stare at my screen for a few minutes in thought while I considered it. I can't imagine what it must have been like for people who had a certain favorite companion from DAO.
10.) Making decisions about Skyhold. While some of the decisions currently seem to lack major significance, I definitely like the idea of them. I wouldn't say no to more of this sort of thing. This could affect your Inquisitor in an immediate sense (whether you choose the garden for more herbs, or choose the chantry (yes I'm aware that it's currently acting glitchy) for money) but could also have interesting ramifications in a long term sense. This might mean that whether you choose a mage tower or the templar tower helps determine who you support for the Divine (or at least throws a few more points in their favor). Lastly, while not major, I'd have been curious to see what Iron Bull might've had to say when I draped the keep with Tevinter imagery everywhere. I did find it amusing when Vivienne commented on your style choices.





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