TL;DR: The game is great, much better than DA2, but has some odd design decisions and lots of features I dind't like one bit. I have the feeling Bioware have lost an opportunity. Also, the game wasn't as I expected, at all; don't know if I misundestood the marketing or if they tried to lure me with half truths. It really doesn't matter at this point.
All in all, I would give the game a 6'5/10.
I have three personal issues with Inquistion that really, really hindered my enjoyment:
- Magic, mages and magic schools. The change in how the mage class is understood is the single most irritating aspect for me. 8 slot limitation, along with the inventory/talent prohibition in combat is specially hard on them. Also, they have lost the damage-dealer role in favor of elemental/blocking effects -it seems archers are now the explosive damage dealers of the game-. The new school distribution is baffling, a clear step back from the variety seen in Origins and DA2.
- Coercion (lack of). I was excited when I heard of the perk system. After the disappointment from DA2 in this aspect, I was thrilled with a new system that allowed the inquisitor to develop in areas outside combat. I always loved the diplomacy aspect of RPGs and I bought the conversation perks as soon I gained the points for them. Unfortunatelly, the implementation of those conversation perks is scarce and most of the time irrelevant. I really missed the quantity and quality events that allowed for diplomacy solutions prior combat in Origins.
- "Quantity over quality" design choice. I understand why Bioware tried the open world approach. The market, more or less, forced EA's hand. But I've never been particularly fond of Bethesda style nor the first installment of Baldur's Gate in this regard. The open world parts, with their secondary quests, their size and the general feeling of inmensity turns out to be extremely boring, dull and repetitve for me. Despite the obvious effort put to make quests varied and less robotic than Skyrim, the overall effect is... hollow. I honestly believe Inquisition would have been much better with only two or three open-hub zones filled with more quality content -quests fleshed with cinematic conversations, or allowing perks to be more relevant to their resolution, for example-.
Despite these problems, I found many great things in Inquisition, things that at the end, despite giving up the game for weeks, made me return to it and complete the main quests after all.
- I liked the characters; at first I found them a bit bland, but it is very refreshing to see how their personal story unfolds -not all of them, that's true, but there are some brilliant moments with Blackwall, Morrigan or Solas, for example-.
- The plot, despite the rushed ending, is interesting. The main quests show Bioware's best face. After hours of boring secondary quests, playing the plot quests was just amazing. It really surprised me to see Corypheus again, or Morrigan's involvement. All in all, despite the ending, despite the retcons and incoherences with past entries, I enjoyed the story.
- Open world areas are really beatiful. It's good to see this time they've learned the lesson from DA2. Some maps are simply amazing. My favorite is Emerald Graves. Never got tired of wandering there!
- Dragon fights are simply amazing. The only moment DA:I shines in combat. The old Bioware, the company that offered interesting tactical combat, shows its face in the High Dragon fights.
So, at the end, I think they've put togheter a pretty decent game, miles away from DA2. But at the same time, I think they've desperately tried to emulate RPG mechanichs from other well known games, forgetting completely what made Origins (and in, some sense, DA2) an unforgettable experience.
Inquisition feels generic, way too similar to recent RPG hits. With many elements that I feel irrelevant, like a vast crafting system that denies the chance for a customizable point distribution on level up. Or tons of mounts, comestic options for Skyhold, and many details that develop the general idea of quantity being better than quality in a RPG game. Sadly, I end up with the feeling that the game was not for me. I'm glad the effort Bioware put developing the game, but I hope the next installment goes back to the franchise roots. Unlikely, I know, but hey.
(btw, sorry for my english, I'm not Shakespeare fluent
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