I suppose, FWIW, I'll add my $0.02 after reading through this thread and getting some genuine chuckles as I recognized myself and my own frustrations is so very many of the posts. Personally, I think my overall biggest complaint with the game is this:
If Frostbite is such an AMAZING game engine, and it can supposedly do so very much - WTF were they thinking when they released a game that uses so very little of it's true capabilities? The scenery, on the whole, I found to be pretty amazing. I will freely admit to that. But then they take models and animations that look like they ported straight out of games that were built on vastly inferior engines ten or more years ago to lay on top of all that beautiful world? Seriously?
Um, guys, I can build better, more realistic and lifelike characters and animations using a piece of software that anyone with an internet connection can get for free, and the models and animations will export out of that software in formats that import into dozens of different game building packages. I will admit that I have not messed with Frostbite. (Though I'd cheerfully do so if the Powers That Be who are sitting on the dev kit and glaring at the universe in paranoia would make it available.)
I've seen postings all over the place about the original engine that Dragon Age: Origins was built on, and there are places that comment that even the updated version that Dragon Age 2 shipped under was "old and creaky" at the time, but honestly? Your animations and character models in both of those games at least had some life and beauty to them. For that matter, the entire Mass Effect series has more convincing animation, though the limitations of the skeletons in some of the models can be glaringly apparent when you have a system that's quite as tanked-up as the one I choose to play on.
The part that I find utterly depressing is that even on those other, supposedly inferior, game engines, even amateur "modders" have created cutscenes, animations, characters, items, areas... the list goes on - that are vastly superior to many of the ones that were included in Inquisition. And Inquisition isn't even an "indie" game released by a bunch of people who started developing it in their basement, but a game that was released by a company that supposedly has a development staff and an actual "real" budget for such things. How very sad.
And the final personal peeve regarding the character models is why did you settle on such a very small number of incredibly ugly base models and colors for your character creation? It doesn't matter how much I tweak, run the sliders up, down, in, out - based on the facial structures, the hair, the eyebrows - the Inquisitor is just, well... My daughter is a sculptor and a pretty amazing artist (if I do say so myself) and I think the word she used probably fits best - They are simply FUGLY. There's not an ounce of beauty in their appearance, and their movements have absolutely no grace or flow at all. The first comment she made to me after seeing me playing was, "If they actually PAID someone to create those models, they should sue for their money back. I've seen bad before, but those are just... FUGLY, mom. Really."
I've been a long time fan of both Dragon Age and Mass Effect. I own them all on several platforms and take great delight in replaying them often. I will admit to being disappointed in ME3. Not gonna go into that here, it's way too OT for here. BUT - I will comment that as disappointed as I was in ME3, Inquisition was an even more painful disappointment. The story is much more satisfying in it's telling, the plot and writing are - with a few picky points - really good. David Gaider and his team have done a marvelous job with continuity and character development in the series. It's incredibly upsetting that the animation and gameplay don't live up to the story.
If all you wanted to produce was another arbitrary platform/shooter/loot farming sort of game, why on earth did you waste your money on an engine like Frostbite and writing talent like Mr. Gaider and his team? You should have stuck to the Unreal engine and let Mark Darrah write it. It's obvious from his blog that he writes some pretty good fiction - he's managed to convince quite a few people that Inquisition is worth shelling out almost $80 to own.
Okay, okay. I'll douse the coals and crawl back in my cave now. 