Dragon Age: Inquisition Reviews

Dragon Age Inquisition
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: EA
Platforms: Xbox One (version reviewed), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows PC

The first thing you realise when starting to play Dragon Age Inquisition is just how big this game is, although it is not an open world game like Skyrim the game world feels about the same size but feels more full. Everywhere you go there is something to do from solving someone’s problems to collecting crafting materials. Despite this very few of the missions are the fetch quests that you would expect.

Bioware has gone back to the typical save the world plotline after their experiment with the story structure from Dragon Age 2, they haven’t taken many chances with the story as it follows the traditional Bioware Cliché structure. To be honest this doesn’t take away from the game as the story is enjoyable and does throw in some twists that I didn’t expect. Where the game really shines is in the world and characters, the longer you immerse yourself in the world the more you begin to find yourself caring about what happens to the world and the characters in it. You will get more from this if you have played the previous two games, as seeing the people you met in them and seeing how your decisions effected the world. As the game bridges two generations of consoles Bioware came up with a new way of importing your decisions even if you played the previous games on a different console.

The controls are a mixture of the two games before it with a few differences. For the first time in the series you are now able to jump which makes navigating the huge world a little easier. Due to this change the main attack is on RT which can be a little jarring but it doesn’t take long to get used to the change. The other big change is the introduction of the Tactical view from the PC version of Dragon Age Origins, this is a completely optional view which pauses the game and allows you to give orders to your party. This isn’t necessary on the lower difficulties however to succeed at higher difficulties the AI isn’t able to survive by itself.

The game doesn’t do everything right, it gates off certain missions behind a power mechanic which you gain by completing quests. This feels like an unnecessary way of increasing play time, likely done as they want everyone to experience more of the game. The game also has quite a few bugs like your character being launched into the air or across the map whilst trying to attack and characters appearing out of nowhere and clipping into things. The worst of these bugs though is the game stopping during conversations, if this does happen to you leave the game running as it does eventually keep going after a few minutes.

The achievements are very doable as they are mostly just experience everything the game has to offer with the hardest being the difficulty achievements. In theory it is possible to get the full 1000G in one playthrough if you are willing to go through the game on the hardest difficulty first time round.

Overall this game is amazing and makes up for the missteps of Bioware’s previous two games (Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3) and if you have a spare 100 hours this game is a must buy and really is a game you have to experience for yourself. Be warned though if you have not played the previous games in the series, and even if you have but haven’t read the books / comics, there will be a lot you will be confused about and may want to read up on to catch up.

9.5 / 10

*Review originally done for www.thegamesden.com

NOTE: This review also covers all DLC

I quite enjoyed Dragon age origins, and to a lesser extent dragon age 2. So why don't I like dragon age inquisition? I'll tell you why, it's a little thing called difficulty curve. I played the game on nightmare mode, and the first boss in the prologue is literally, and I do mean literally. The hardest fight in the game. In comparison the final boss fight felt like I was mugging an old lady for her pension, by which I mean very easy, they didn't fight back much and I was left feeling unfulfilled and like I'd done something wrong.

I have lots of other little complaints besides the difficulty curve, the mini map is practically useless, it takes too long to travel to quest locations/objectives and the horse is hidden in a radial menu that felt like too much hassle to actually use.

I also feel like character customisation has been watered down a lot, compared to previous dragon age games. But I can let that one go, as all too often have I spent an hour making a character only to hide their gorgeous looks under a hefty helmet...

But my biggest complaint, achievements weren't unlocking. Eventually I figured out why, I first played this game on my girlfriend's xbox, and downloaded my save from the cloud. After that I wasn't unlocking anything, I tried the usual tricks, deleting local save data and syncing from the cloud, deleting my profile and downloading it again. None of which worked. Eventually I gave up and deleted the save entirely, starting fresh did the trick and achievements were finally unlocking.

The gameplay is "fine" nothing groundbreaking but fans of the series will be able to pick up and play with no trouble, it's also friendly for new comers as well. The usual bioware dialogue trees ars there, and as usual they don't "really" massively affect the story.

Talking a little more about the combat, all to often I had to use the tactical camera to control my party, mages would stand in melee distance from enemies to cast, rogues would sort of flank but not really, and my warriors would often run at one enemy, swing their weapon once, before running to another. Using the tactical camera helped alleviate this a lot, but it's not a gameplay style I appreciate. I prefer to be in the thick of it, chipping away at a dragons knees, not constantly looking over my shoulder to check varric hasn't decided he's cold and wants to warm himself up in the dragons mouth...

Having said that, the latter half of the game became a joke, maybe it was because I'd complete every side quest for the dribbles of XP and influence, maybe it's because I crafted a weapon (yeah there's crafting, every game has to have crafting now) the legendary weapon "Arse Whacker" which had masses of crit damage % crit chance % and life steal...
Difficulty 8/10 (swiftly drops to 4/10)
Gameplay 5/10
100% completion time 100-120hrs

The 2 "proper" DLC offerings felt very short, and also they were not very challenging (maybe it's because I had the legendary weapon "Arse Whacker"?)

Jaws of Hakkon gives you a new area to explore, a few new enemies to kill and not much else (well, you can get a bear as an agent of the inquisition). As story goes, it's more of the same "oh no an ancient evil is doing naughty wicked things, over there about half a mile away, would you go do something about it? I would but I've just painted my nails"

At least in the main game you have the anchor meaning you're the only one who can close fade rifts, but here? You're here because you're a hero adventurer, heroically adventurous and dashing etc. etc.

It's more of the same, buy it if you like dragon age I guess.
Difficulty 2/10
Gameplay 5/10
100% completion time 6-8hrs

The Descent, DLC outing, felt much more fun to me than the Jaws of Hakkon. Maybe that's because I let out a little fan boy squeak when I heard David Hayters gravely rasp. Or maybe it's because I feel like dwarves are under represented in dragon age lore, too often shunned in favour of pointy eared elves or pointy horned qunari...

Anyway, gameplay, much of the same, you get a new ability for your anchor meaning you can blow things up, which is always fun. But that's about it, no new mechanics or tricky puzzles, just more stuff that once upon a time would have been included on release, or in a free patch. I'm showing my age I think...

Again, get it if you like dragon age.
Difficulty 2/10
Gameplay 6/10
100% completion time 4-6 hrs

The Trespasser is the third and final DLC pack for dragon age inquisition. It takes place 2 years after the end of the main story, so it was fun to see how the characters had progressed, depending on the choices you made. But not every character, only some, the rest are pre determined no matter what.

There's a little court intrigue drama regarding the inquisition, should it continue to operate as it does etc. Which is all rudely interrupted by a dead qunari spy. Story and plot happen, adventuring occurs and everything gets a rather anticlimactic conclusion. But it gives us plot for our next game! (Nearly 6 years later...)

Personally, I feel like the events that unfold in the DLC should have been included in the main game, but that's not the first time I've thought that...

Now the "trials", these are annoying little challenges that you can complete for achievements, they claim to offer little bonuses in game for herbs and crafting materials but who really cares. It's all about the cheevos!

If you have loads of different saves, chances are you'll be able to knock most of these out really easily. Some require a little more thought "get to skyhold at level 5 or below" springs to mind.

Overall a step up from the other DLC packs, just because it takes longer to complete.
Difficulty 6/10
Gameplay 5/10
100% completion time 10-50 hrs (depending if you have old saves to load)