2014 GOTY Baby
Dragon Age Inquisition was an interesting edition to the series. The switch to the frostbite engine caused a lot of headaches and overblown hatred of Dragon Age 2 drove the team to make Inquisition bigger than it needs to be.
In Dragon Age Inquisition you can play as 4 different races just like in Origins. Bioware had to fight for the extra time to add this feature but it paid off adding unique dialogue and romance options. Once your character is customized your character comes out of a portal (breaches) only to be arrested. It turns out these portals are spewing demons out of them and you are the only one who can close them. Upon learning this The Inquisition is formed to try and close all the breaches and save the world.
This was my second playthrough of the game, the first time I played Inquisition right after Dragon Age 2. I don’t understand the hatred of Dragon Age 2 because its so far my favorite in the whole series. The companion system in that game is unmatched, it was eerie how much your group of friends paid attention to your actions. Jumping into Inquisition right after that masterpiece gave it a disadvantage. The environments were more varied and you can play as multiple races but the dialogue and companion system was more shallow than its predecessor. It seemed like a kinder but dumbed down Dragon Age to appeal to a wider audience. I decided to play it again after starting Dragon Age: The Veilguard and realizing I needed to romance Solas.
My second playthrough of Inquisition I was a lot kinder to its shortcomings. It does a lot in regards to world states much more than any other Dragon Age or Mass Effect for that matter. In order to have the game remember what you did previously Bioware set up a website called Dragon Age Keep where you can import your Dragon Age Origins and 2 saves or create a custom world state. This works really well for now but when that website goes down eventually you will most likely only be able to play on the default world state and that’s horrible. It’s not future proof, unless they decide to do a legendary edition that combines all three (now four) Dragon Ages in one game like they did Mass Effect.
While it is said to be open world it is actually zone based. You have your central hub where the Inquisition is and using your big war table map you can travel to different zones you can run around in. Each of the zones have hours and hours of side quests you can complete giving your organization more members and power. You can use that power to unlock new areas on the map to explore. The war table has another function other than fast traveling to locations you can also use your advisors to deal with conflicts around the map. You can choose to use diplomacy, spies or your army to solve issues in real time. When I first played I didn’t like the war table because it took place in real time, some missions can take your advisors eight real hours. Lucky in not in game hours so you can go to bed, wake up and they will have completed their mission. The second time through I actually really enjoyed the breaks. I felt like a real leader telling my team how we should proceed. The time it takes to complete a mission allowed me to go do side quests while I waited or just turn the game off and go to bed. It led to healthy gaming habits.
The combat is a combo between Dragon Age Origins and 2. You can choose to make it overhead turn-based or real time combat. It also has a pretty decent crafting system. When you upgrade you and your companions’ outfits it seems to actually have an effect on combat. You can also collect materials to upgrade your main hub, you can add cosmetic changes and as well as new areas that showcase what the inquisition prioritizes. They added a new Judgement mechanic in which your character is the judge, jury and sometimes executor of whomever the Inquisition arrested. It’s not only a great power trip but it can help with companion approval.
There are three DLC’s in Dragon Age Inquisition all three of which I would recommend playing after the main story is complete. The game’s true ending is locked behind the Trespasser DLC which is scummy. Luckily you won’t have to worry about that if you bought the Game of the Year edition.
Overall I think Dragon Age Inquisition is a RPG, at the moment I think it’s the worst in the series but it’s still good regardless of that. All Dragon Age’s so far have been wonderful, and I’m excited to see what they do with Dreadwolf (I am still mad they changed it to The Veilguard, Dreadwolf is a much cooler name).
Leave a reply!