But I think this is missing the point. Your Inquisitor doesn't know all the ins and outs and has to make a decision based only on the information presented in the game. I don't really see anything wrong with that, and I did read the novel when it was released prior to the game. To me, this is the nature of role-play. The same is true of Asunder and how its contents relate to the mage/templar issue and Cole in particular.
Sometimes there is no good option and you have to choose the lesser of (in this case) three evils.
However, I will agree about the secret spoiler option. In a way, I look at that as a reward for the player either playing through the game again, or going against type in not feeling the necessity (as many players do) to open all doors/chests and loot all the things. With Halamshiral, the game tries to reward players for exploration and patience. Some aspects of it are annoying, yes -- I put off the mission as long as possible in every play since it's a two hour time sink -- but I can appreciate that they tried to do something different.
The thing about that meta knowledge, though... A nation like Orlais going through a civil war? At the same time as the mage rebellion? These are nation-shaking events. These are things that should be everyday knowledge for anyone as close to the border of Ferelden and Orlais, because it's going to have a direct impact on them. Instead, the existence of a civil war in Orlais isn't dropped in game until Skyhold. And by virtue of being close to the Conclave when it took place, all possible Inquisitors should have had some kind of opinion, even if it is something along the '*sigh Orlesians...' I'd expect from a non-human Inquisitor. Haven is almost right on the border of Orlais and Ferelden, it seems like SOMETHING should spill over. Not to mention that we do get to visit Val Royeaux, Orlais's capitol. Why AREN'T people discussing it? Why isn't the option to discuss with SOME Orlesian dignitary the character of these people before we ever meet them? Hell, I'd expect that, as the Inquisiton makes itself a greater power, there'd be Orlesian nobles tripping over themselves to tell the Inquisition whatever they could - make themselves seem useful to the new power, you have made yourself look like a prospective ally, and if you need something from them, now they easily could be seen as indebted to you.
At the very least, I would honestly expect there to be discussions at Haven about how the Orlesian civil war is threatening them as much if not more than the mage-templar war. My complaint here is less that the Inquisitor is in the dark about the little details and just the fact that the Orlesian civil war, as a whole, doesn't seem to EXIST until the plot demands it to, at which point you're told to resolve it while you the player are still trying to get a picture of what the hell's going on. No one is discussing it, even broadly, until the point that, hey, isn't it convenient, the Inquisition needs to go there and clean it up.
This is what I'm getting at when I say Inquisition was doing too much - each of the major storylines of the game, the mage-templar war, the Orlesian civil war, Corypheus... ALL of these could have easily been their own game the size and length of Inquisition. In tackling them all at once, Inquisition suffered for it, because by only caring about it when it needs to be spotlighted, none of the real underlying causes are addressed, it's deal with things purely in the moment without the opportunity in or out of universe to get all the information on the matter, do something about the WHY this happened, rather than just reacting to it.
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