Dragon Age: Inquisition was one of the games I unfortunately didn't find the time to play before I named my favourite games of 2014. Having watched the credits roll (and witnessed the after-credits scene), I can safely say it would have been on that list.

At first glance, the game is stunning to look at. The character models are a considerable upgrade since Bioware's last outing, and the art design in general is superb. An aspiring artist myself, I was left in awe at some of the environments that have been crafted in this game. There's a good variety to them as well. Travelling between the vast deserts of the Hissing Wastes, the gigantic forests of the Emerald Graves, and the snowy mountains of the Empirse du Lion really gave me the sense that the world of Dragon Age is a large one. Although the segmented nature of these environments perhaps worked against that feeling, it didn't entirely detract from the sheer sense of scale that Inquisition evokes. And as an aside, I really liked the inclusion of the tarot card-style used in much of the art direction. It gave the game a unique identity, compared to other video games in the fantasy genre.

But rather than ramble on more about the aesthetic, I'll talk about what is easily the best component of Dragon Age: Inquisition: the characters. For many reasons, the characters in this game got me to care about Dragon Age in a way none of the previous installments have. For one, the variety in the cast you meet over the course in the game is very impressive. Though you might not love the entire cast, it's hard to deny that each of them bring something unique to the table. My personal group included Cassandra, Dorian, and Varric. It was great how, despite the group of characters you went with, they'd all have lines of dialogue written as little tidbits of interaction with each other as you were exploring the various areas. I enjoyed the little bets Dorian and Varric would share, and Cassandra's embarrassment whenever Varric or Dorian would bring up her more feminine side. And the effort to appeal to different types of players was also admirable. More than any other game, this one allowed you to share a meaningful romance subplot regardless of your sexual preference. And I must admit, though I chose to go with Cassandra in the end, Dorian's sassy charm tempted me a few times. Given the wealth of relationship options, I can see myself playing a new, female character later down the line. Which is more than I can say for any other Bioware game I've played. I appreciate that they choose not to have a default "Shepard". Though I feel that worked for Mass Effect, I find that this game specifically really benefited from allowing you to craft your own main character, without it feeling like you were straying from the intended choice. That said, if there is to be another game, I would hope I could resume the role of my Inquisitor. But I have to wonder if Bioware will stick to the formula of introducing a new character with each iteration.

My Party before the real Party:

Inquisitor	Cassandra	Varric	Dorian

In terms of the overall narrative, it was okay. Enough to push the story forward, but not much more. The villain, while initially menacing, quickly lost that impact with their lack of presence in much of the main act. The majority of the other characters were really what carried the game. Though I must give props to Bioware for their handling of the Dragon Age Keep. As someone with little experience in the previous games, I felt that the Keep brought me up to speed on the main story and helped me shape the world in a way that felt unique before I even started Inquisition. Despite having already completed the Mass Effect series, I think the next game in that franchise would really benefit from having a similar website attached to it. And while Jeff had some negative things to say about the post credits scene in the GOTY podcasts, I didn't mind it. It felt like a way of allowing space for a sequel (or dlc?) without taking away what you had worked for in the main game.

All that said, Inquisition was not a game without faults. There are many, in fact. The side missions were mostly made up of fetch quests. The pacing was all over the place, at times giving the player little to do and at other times overwhelming the player with options. The final fight against the villain was a little anticlimactic. The combat grew to be mundane after the progression saturated. The animations both in cutscenes and in gameplay left something to be desired. The game just felt full of filler. It's a shame, too, because the gorgeous environments deserved better reasons to be explored. If not for my completionist nature, I would have skipped over much of what the game offers.

I could go on, rattling off more things that hindered my enjoyment, and yet, I really like DA: Inquisition. I was hesitant when initially starting, because I typically don't enjoy starting a series in the middle, but I think Inquisition did a terrific job of bringing in newcomers. If you were ever on the fence about trying out the Dragon Age series, this is the game you should play.

Not many games in 2014 left me with a melancholic feeling like this one did, as I said goodbye to the characters I had grown attached to over the 90-ish hours of play. That might seem like a strange way to judge a game, but as someone who cares deeply for story and characterization in video games, mentioning that I will miss interacting with those characters is some of the best praise I can give. And with that, I bid DA: Inquisition adieu. Thanks for reading.

Just got started and it definitely seems way better than Origins at least, might wind up being the second best Bioware game next to ME2. It feels like Baldur's Gate without the extremely archaic problems that those games/the Black Isle games have (whereas if you go back and play Starcraft or Diablo 2 they still hold up).

I briefly tried to play Origins earlier this year, in anticipation for this game, and just couldn't get into it. I don't know whether it has aged poorly, or I'm just not into that kind of RPG. I feel like Inquisition gave a good enough initial impression to the point where I played long enough to become interested in the characters on display. I'm almost tempted to try Dragon Age 2, to see if there's anything there I would enjoy.

I completed the game earlier today, as in everything minus some rifts and skulls are not done in the hissing wastes. I have to say this game is a real disappointment. I feel like I know what playing Destiny is like. Most of the game is just useless fluff and everything that is good about the game is just in far too small amounts.

The main story-line is too short and too disconnected from the zones you go to. All of the companion characters have a single major companion quest which sets them up for some interesting character exposition but the game never does anything with it.

Seeing Ironbull and Blackwall deal with their identity problems could be very interesting but not much of interest comes of it after they set up those situations. Cullen's is of note as well, addiction is not easy to beat, but you never see him struggle after you tell him yes or no it is just magically fixed. Varric and his relationship to Bianca could be fleshed out as well, but it simply isn't. Sera doesn't really have one. Cole being more human and less spirit needs some serious exposition. How does Dorian get along with his father? Does Vivienne really enjoy being a political bitch with no soul?

Worth noting is that the Zero Punctuation for this game is quite good.

I absolutely hate this game but I'll still finish it. On the PS3 no less.

I've been playing it for 5hours so far, find it unnecessarily vague with.... just about everything. I left the hinterlands when I hit level 6 and went to my map to find a few new places to check out (after I had to google what exactly I had to do to go back to the war table, and holy shit how bad is this game design, and expected some kind of indicator as to what level I had to be to begin an area but the was none) went to the Bog and died almost instantly...... FANFUCKINGTASIC.

I like a lot about this game, the combat sucks though, but the potential is there for it to get it's claws into me.

HOWEVER at the moment I find the game rather aimless, the pacing seems kind of weak and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on. I haven't had this problem with any bioware game ever. And much like Jeff I absolutely hate the way the game handles health.

A fine read. I'm surprised to see you enjoyed it so much, as you seem to share many of my own problems with Inquisition :P. Particularly the shitty side stuff and lackluster story. I guess the characters were enough for you to make up for it, though while I agree that there's some likeable personalities in there, they don't really do enough with them.

Their loyalty quests for starters don't even begin to match up to the ones in Mass Effect 2, and they rarely ever seem to factor into the overall plot very much. Plus some are exceptionally short and feel kind of rushed.

The fact that they won't ever question your actions and seemingly lack the potential to leave, if not betray you, also took away a lot of their individuality in my eyes. Regardless of how you talk to them, regardless of how much 'disapproval' occurs, it never goes anywhere, no animosity is built. It frankly seems like cowardice on BioWare's part because it looks as if they want to carry over the same approval/disapproval system from prior games, but without having any of the distinctive consequences behind that system for invariably pissing someone off or pushing them too far. If a character is to leave your company you have to be the one to tell them to do so.

Much of the party banter out in the field can be entertaining, though, and the game certainly looks attractive enough. But still... Inquisition is seen by many as a return to form for BioWare, though for myself it's only made me more wary. I'm still interested in seeing more of their new Mass Effect, if only for curiosity's sake.

@sunbrozak: Inquisition feels just old school enough to push away more casual RPG fans. People who are used to games like Skyrim or Mass Effect might find themselves a little lost while those who want a new Baldurs Gate will get turned off by it's more modern aspects. After having beaten it this week I can definitely say it's one of the best RPG experiences I've had in a while. Despite the numerous problems, of which you wrote, there is just so much good there. The way they laid out the zones is actually really great as it cuts down on pointless transition areas and each location has a very specific art style that keeps the game feeling fresh. Each new zone offers it's own unique narrative and a lot of fun little side activities - unfortunately for some you do have to read a lot to get the most out of it. If you were to mash your way through all the text just to get to the next checkpoint on the map then 99% of what you do will indeed seem like mindless filler. Small "quests" like following a note of a couple agreeing to meet for a romantic picnic to a grassy meadow with a blanket and basket, only to have spiders descend out of the foliage above but as you draw near. After killing them all you discover an engagement ring on one of their corpses and your mind kind of pieces together the story - it's fun, but only if you actually read the notes. There is also a fantastic haunted house in the emerald glades.

I really enjoyed my time with it, and I might even write a review. I'm eagerly awaiting the DLC while killing off high dragons in the meantime. Also this entry has the most dragons out of all the Dragon Age games thus far!

@yummylee@aristotled The loyalty quests did leave something to be desired. You're right in that they don't hold a candle to Mass Effect 2's missions. That said, and it might just be specific to the characters I stuck with, I feel like the incidental dialogue was what really went a long way in making me interested in those characters. The interactions the characters would have while you were out on a mission gave you a sense of what the cast thought of each other, and on occasion would tell you a little about their backstory. And I never felt like I ran into the Mass Effect thing of "I'm busy with these calibrations". Whenever I wanted to speak to a character, they would seem to have more dialogue about the latest mission we were on. Maybe not a full fledged cutscene, but there always something else to talk about with them.

When it comes to the characters, I almost feel like the game is reactionary to Mass Effect 3's reception. Down to the Lord of the Rings-esque ending, which many were clambering for during the disappointment over ME3's ending. I think Bioware might very well of been afraid of allowing the player to mess up the relationships with the characters in a way that would provide a "bad" ending, so they tried to please everyone by giving a very generic "good" ending, and even allowed the player to get rid of the characters they might not like along the way. Heck, for as much as they hype up the villain being indestructible, he sure goes out in a whimper. At the least the villain(s) in Mass Effect 3 were menacing right up to the end.

Even still, I did really like the characters. Perhaps I'm a little more forgiving about the loyalty missions and the lack of any real consequence because very few games as of late have had memorable characters. I think Telltale's games were the only other games I played last year that had an impact on me in regards to story and character, so I've been wanting for more of this sort of stuff.

@humanity

Yeah, I didn't touch on it in my blog but the high dragons were easily the highlight in terms of gameplay. Playing on normal, they might have been a little boring if I had faced them at the appropriate level, but because I was rolling a tank character I felt like challenging them when I was underleveled. I remember fighting a level 23 dragon when I was only level 17, and what resulted was a very long and dramatic fight in which I had to carefully manage my health at all times. I had put points into the champion specialization of the warrior class, allowing me to have brief invincibility, generate a lot of guard, and use a skill in which I taunt the enemy - increasing the damage it takes and does every second I'm close to it. This particular dragon would summon smaller mobs to fight aside it, which would kill off the rest of my party very quickly. But the smaller mobs allowed me to recharge my focus ability, and that ability would give me a long enough breather to revive some of my allies. It was intense! Almost reminding me of a game like Dark Souls. It was a whole lot of fun.

The combat is just so bad.

@sunbrozak: The ending to Inquisition was meant to mimic the ending to Origins, as it's basically the same thing. Big celebratory party with all your party members hanging out with some final parting words.

It's a solid 6/10. I found it no less flawed than DA2, just with entirely different flaws.

To me it just feels like there's nobody heading up this franchise at Bioware with a clear vision of their own for what it should be. Their design approach seems very reactive and knee jerk. The lack of confidence in themselves and what they're doing shows in the game.

@yummylee I see. I didn't know about the ending to Origins, other than what the Keep told me.

And I wouldn't necessarily say the decisions you make weren't significant, it's just that you don't see many of the consequences in the game. (Aside from the closing remarks by Morrigan). Until we get another game that is set after this one, it's hard to say if choosing the likes of the next Divine and who drank from the well will have an impact. But yes, that's not an ideal situation. It would have been nice to see some choices that directly affected the ending, or the characters within this game.

It would be nice if we could see a return to the Mass Effect 2 style of ending, in which your previous choices had significant influence over the success/failure of that mission. If anything, as much as I enjoyed Inquisition, playing the game has made me really want to play through the Mass Effect series again.

This is the last thing I'll say about this game, because I feel I'm starting to repeat myself.

I feel they focused on the wrong things when designing this game. They made some incredible looking zones, the interaction between characters is great, a lot of the dialogue is good too, but the gameplay and game design overall feels tacked on.
It's like they never really played their own game, because then they would've realized that it's not fun to play at all.

It seems weird to me though, because a lot of people really like it and even consider it their 'game of the year'. So this game is just not for me. But I like Bioware games in general and I like action RPG's, so why do I not like Dragon Age? :(

@yummylee: Yeah well Yummy here is the thing. In Dragon Age 2 you are Hawke. In Inquisition you are the Inquisitor. They let you decide what the Inquisitor looks like, how they sound, what sex they are, what their race is..... but they are still the Inquisitor. It was the same deal with Dragon Age Origins though Origins pulls it off a little better. The options you were looking for were never going to be there just like Shepard can be a real dick, but he is always going to fight the Reapers.

Most people I've spoken to who have enjoyed the game are still aware of the issues present in the game. I wonder if it is just because 2014 was lacking in terms of story-driven games. People like myself were just so ready to jump at the chance to play a game like this, that we were prepared to overlook the shortcomings.

@sunbrozak: i always liked dragon age for its rpg elements and combat.i like the stories and characters,but thats not the main reason i play them.so its not that i was ready to jump at the game,i just think the game is amazing in almost every way.which is crazy because ive never said that about bioware.i dont love any of there other games,i just like them.i LOVE inquisition.

@dussck: you dont like it because its not just a action rpg from bioware.the way the zones work and how the content feels,it feels like a single player mmo.i love grinding and farming in games,its my fave thing to do.so i love all of the gameplay that inquisition has because of this.if you dont like mmos or do but wouldnt want to play it by yourself,you will not like this game.so basically its what you said,its just not for you.it has enough of dragon age to feel like a dragon age game,but its not the same dragon age anyones used to.i like this version of dragon age the best,although i can understand others not liking it.

@nasp: But there is next to no grinding required in this game. Even farming materials isn't really all that necessary.

You could do all those things, but then you become over leveled really fast...

it doesnt have grinding in the normal sense,but going around doing all the content in the zones will feel like a grind.which like i said isnt for everyone,but its for me because i like grinding,farming and doing everything in the game.most games dont require grinding,but its there.

I just beat it with a playtime of 91 hours. It's not perfect but I really enjoyed it. The character/world building stuff is the best part of the game easily. As a newcomer to DA it was fun to side with the mages and piss off the establishment at every turn. I'm hoping a lot of the choices that didn't really play out in this game will be show up in the sequel. And I agree there is no grind in this game unless you want there to be. I only did the side quests that interested me but if you wanna go close every dumb rift and every last fetch quest, the option is there for you. A solid 4/5 for me.

@yummylee: I'm still playing the game and I do see the problems many people have pointed out despite me still enjoying it a lot. I actually feel this game is more like a debut or reboot of sorts despite it being a sequel lore-wise but in reality they are trying to do a lot of stuff and then putting them all in as if this was the first game of a new franchise.

This game could have been tightened up a lot more for sure and I feel that they'll probably address most of those problems in their next game (the Mass Effect game) and iterate on that. DA:I has problems but I like what they're trying to do with it and I could see them improving the "formula" they used to make this game which gives me hope for the next Bioware game.

You're (probably) absolutely right. I've seen hints that they are definitely considering this as a formula for future games. In one of their livecasts they implied that they really wanted to do more with this game, but hit huge speedbumps implementing the current technology.

I liked the world building aspect of it at first but it gets unbelievably tedious. Usually I finish several war table missions in the time it just takes me to run around Skyhold trying to craft, sell my useless equipment, and switch out upgrades. There's no reason that should take 20+ minutes. As a broke-ass idiot with the PS3 version, the loading times are unbearable too. This game looks worse on PS3 than a lot of old PS2 games do. I have no way of taking screenshots but it looks absolutely putrid.

Shame, because I think the "send agent out on passive missions" is a really fun idea and I do think there's a chance they pull it off in Mass Effect. ME won't have that same problem of having to spend way too long in their horrible UIs to craft/upgrade/do your rpg stuff

I miss setting gambits. There was never a lot to DA's combat but its basically automated now. When I say I enjoyed combat as a rogue, I'm lowkey saying any other class is boring as hell to play as and that's not a great way to set your game up. The rest of my problems and praise for the game come from the same place basically; Skyrim's influence. The things the old games lacked that I liked as well as the filler shit I didn't care for are both very informed by the success of Skyrim and how that changed the series trajectory. Its a better direction than where DA2 is going, a bit of refinement is still needed though. And give your players a little credit and add a little skill to the combat. Maybe they thought this game could get Skyrim numbers if they made the appeal broad enough but I don't think that's what happened. So now they should refine the sequel based on the fans they have, not the fans they want.

Played some more and I'm totally digging it still ~25 hours in. This is the best approximation of Final Fantasy XII I've seen yet minus gambits. Instead of gambits you have surprisingly good AI aside from tanks (melee rogues are also probably pretty dumb but that's who I control most of the time). I spent 2 hours exploring a zone with almost no enemies in it, no quests, and enjoyed it the entire time. A big thing with previous Dragon Age was world/lore building with absolutely no world to explore, so you'd just have a mediocre plot, good characters, poor gameplay and poor exploration. This game seems to improve greatly on exploration and decently enough on the gameplay front. Also they kind of looked like shit and this game is gorgeous so that helps too. I can't say enough about the near instant load times on PS4 either, which is another giant improvement over previous Dragon Age games. Overall it seems like they took parts of Kingdoms of Amalur, SWTOR, and Skyrim and merged them together in a pretty interesting fashion. This might be the first Bioware game since Jade Empire where I actually bother playing it a second time. Good stuff from EA.

Aside: In the case of Mass Effect it has the same problem as earlier Dragon Age games in terms of the environments, however the art design is pretty good and the art design in Dragon Age is ridiculously generic.