23.11.2014

If you're looking for another Dragon Age which is similar to the first two games (and thus comparible to Baldur's Gate) this game isn't for you. EA Games have moved away from their original vision and game play style which we all knew and loved in the first two games, and reimagined Dragon Age in the same stylings as The Witcher or Elder Scrolls.Gameplay Hints and TipsThe overhead camera is now available as a separate function; a paused battle camera overseeing the area. The battle progresses only whilst the L2 trigger is held in, allowing the player to issue commands and pause quickly. The down side is the camera gets stuck on ceilings and trees preventing an overhead view.It is also hard to get up slopes and bridges. In these areas the only way to use it is as a disjointed side to side camera instead.There are no healing spells (although there is a resurrection spell at the bottom of one spell tree). There are only elemental spells and none of the more interesting 'weird' spells that we grew to love in the first two games. Potions are your only healing and, although infinite from your bases, you start off only carrying 8 at a time. You also don't heal between fights. As monsters now respawn it can be an issue to simply get where you need to be with enough healing to continue. You can cut some respawn numbers by 'claiming' an area at special sites on the map and you can try running past mobs (telling your party to disengage all the while) but you may still find a crew member dead by poison or a lucky hit before you reach safety. Fortunately the dead now teleport to you so you can res them manually (hold X whilst nearby or just click on the body from the battlescreen and your player will wander over and slowly res the fallen) once you're clear.If your party does wipe the game is relatively forgiving, res'ing everyone nearby in a safe spot with no real consequence apart from the only 20% health recovery you get from a manual recovery. At this point you can just teleport back to a base to recover health and restock potions (map screen find a camp and X to choose it), but bear in mind that you'll need to run all the way back again. For this reason, claim areas and set up camps whever you can, it'll make it that much less frustrating on your return.Don't just sell armour and weapons, check it first at the Upgrade tables to see if there are any parts you can salvage for upgrading better items.On that subject, there isn't a storage area (unlike in DA:O & DA:2) where you can keep gear which isn't suitable at the moment but you want in the future, etc. Also, anything you vendor disappears (unlike DA:O & DA:2) so once it is out of your inventory it is gone for good. EA Games don't help you on this by giving you lots of inventory space, instead your 60 inventory slots quickly fill with all the loot you come across whilst in the field. The only allowance they make it that crafting items (iron ore, elfroot, etc) doesn't count towards your inventory balance. Also, don't just 'Sell All' on your Valuables inventory tab, the yellow icon next to the lower portion of the inventory list mean that these are items you should hand in (it gives further info on the tooltip); don't sell them by accident as these items can earn you rewards and fighting bonuses against the same mob types in future.You can place beacons on the map to help you run to a specific place (X on map) and it'll show as a blue mark on the minimap and a blue pillar from the player view. Whilst running about make sure you're searching for items (L3) as they're necessary for crafting, upgrades, potions and requisition quests. You should hear a 'ping' if there is something interactive nearby and just rustling if there isn't. There isn't, unfortunately, a way of just leaving your loot-radar running, you need to manually press L3 each time to get loot to light up and label itself, unless you're within a few feet. It is annoying, but you get used to it, although the sheer quantities remain annoying throughout the game. A requisition, for example, may ask for two pieces of loot which only drop whilst you have that requisition active, or for multiples of two ore types(as in The Fallow Mire - 10 blue vitriol and 20 summer stone) to complete. Ore drops on a random dice (I've looted between 1 - 7 of the item) but plants are 1 each, so expect to be picking a lot. The requisition orders just play over and over, The Fallow Mire only has two types of requisition (multiple ores and two drops whilst carrying the quest), and once you complete one by dropping it off at the requisition table another will randomly come available from the Requisition NPC. It could be the same one or it could be the other one...You're stuck with your initial group for some time (until you advance the main quest-line) so don't be afraid to show them a little love, having happy party members in decent gear is definitely helpful. For example, 15 hours in I still had the same three characters you start with as I'd been avoiding the main quest line and doing side quests and exploring- Varric (the dwarf from DA:2 whose brother went fruit-loop over the evil idol), Cassandra (the heroine from the DA movie) and Solas (an apostate mage who happened to be wandering by). I'd spoken to other people who I was expecting to then come available but I still only had the same 3 to pick from. Incidentally, you can now have romances with NPCs outside of your party who are (essentially) on your staff. The range of conversations are somewhat limiting though and, for some reason, you can have the same conversation over and over ("So where are you from", "Do you like what you do", etc) which they didn't allow in the first two.Customisation is almost nonexistent. You have no power over the statistics of your party, it's done automatically as you level. The skill trees are very limited and tactics has been dumbed down so far as to make it a pointless screen. In general the whole game has been over simplified and is more about button mashing than real tactics. The settings available are equally lacking, you cannot turn certain aspects on or off as you would expect to customise to your preferences. An annoying mission bar is fixed to the upper right portion of your screen, but it becomes easy to ignore after a while.Overall then it seems a negative review, and it would be if I only enjoyed DA:O style tactical games. Fortunately I enjoy Witcher style games as well, and I'm enjoying the beautiful backdrops and immersive gameplay of this game for different reasons than I did the first two. It's definitely worth playing if you enjoy the genre and probably not worth paying full wack if you don't - just wait on disappointed patrons who preordered or bought without reading the reviews to sell their copies!*EDIT - NB. If you get stuck on a quest, try leaving the area and returning as new NPCs may spawn in your absence (the Desert Oasis is a prime example of this; you can only get so far in "The Door In Par'as Cavern" before you get stuck. Leaving the area and returning makes the quest continuing NPC spawn).*

29.1.2015

If you want to play this game soon after paying for it you want to pay extra for a quick delivery. The free delivery option takes a week or more....I'm guessing the disc is being posted from some warehouse abroad.I really like this game on the whole- have already been playing the PC version. It gets a lot of things right. I don't have the time and space here to talk about all of those things so I'll mostly focus on what I didn't like.It may not have the incredible art direction of Skyrim but it does have a much more enjoyable combat system and some great characters. The world is big and varied with some fantastic locations to explore. However, the outdoors areas are not seamlessly connected as in Skyrim,meaning you will have to go through a loading screen to travel from one region to another. On the other hand, the game is very stable with none of the crashes and glitches that were such a huge pain in Skyrim. Even the PC version of this game is very stable and glitch -free, even when struggling on an underpowered PC. . The game auto-saves frequently so in the unlikely event of a crash you will not lose much progress.The graphics are good, with the right amount of colour, and the lighting is impressive .I'm not sure about the amount of female-on-female love scenarios in the game, it seems a little disproportionate to the hetero scenarios but not at all surprising in these try-hard days of enlightened & entitled representation and inclusivity ... /sarcasmYour companion's banter is entertaining without being overbearing and repetitive- in fact I've not come acorss any repetition there.There are some annoyances in the inventory and crafting system: there seems to be no item storage and you can only have 60 items in your possession (excluding crafting materials), which can be expanded to 90 later in the game, so be prepared for a lot of time spent managing your inventory. Crafting items and upgrades involves a fair amount of back-and-forth between different screens, and you cannot see if you already have an item you are about to craft , or buy from a merchant, unless you quit the crafting/buying screen and switch to your inventory screen.The combat is a little too MMO-like, and on Normal diffficulty can be a little too easy . I quickly turned the difficulty up one notch to make battles more challenging. On normal difficulty and with a full party you can easily mow down common enemies without having to craft powerful gear or think about your character's stats and abilities - all you have to do usually is keep the attack button pressed... The tactical screen (which pauses the game as you issue commands to your party, after which you can manually advance time and see how the battle plays out, pausing whenever you want to issue new commands) seems like a missed opportunity or an unfinished job as it doesn't allow you to zoom out to get a bird's eye view of the combat. The camera's movement is still tied to your selected character and targetting can be awkward , especially if there are different elevations in the terrain.The one big boss fight I have come across so far was spectacular but rather cheap, in the MMORPG style of unescapable ranged attacks and attacks that seem to cover a very large area, apparently without any warning. On top of that the boss continually summoned minions to gank your party to death. It is very cheap. This boss battle is really all about having powerful enough gear and high enough stats to quickly overpower the boss. It looks like no amount of strategy will help, which is annoying and it cheapens an otherwise quality and well-thought out game. Thankfully this boss is an optional fight- one of those " come back later after you level up lots more" affairs.Bottom line: if you like open-world action-RPGs just play this game.UPDATE:Item storage has now been added to the game with the latest update- a significant improvement. No more time wasted managing inventory. ( This storage chest may only become available after you make some progress in the game- I don't know if it's available in your initial homebase).I have nearly finished the game. It took nearly 100 hours to do most of the quests at a leisurely pace, while collecting materials and crafting a fair amount of gear. I wish they had put more work into a more engaging/challenging combat with more enemy variation, and less into all the cosmetic stuff. After the first few areas you've seen pretty much all the different types of enemies that the game will throw at you. Still a very enjoyable and pretty open world action-RPG, with a ton of content- but not for the hardcore crowd. That this extensively focus-tested game has an 18 rating because of occasional vague (homo)sexual innuendo (that takes quite some looking to find) says a lot about american moral codes. . . The violence in the game is very tame and cartoony and blood can be switched off.

28.5.2015

As a video gamer of over 20 years, whenever I consider what to be my favourite video game of all-time Dragon Age: Origins is a title that always manifests to the top of my thought. Like my fellow hardcore Dragon Age fans however, I considered Dragon Age 2 to be nothing short of an affront to the franchise and one of the most disappointing sequels in video game history. Consequently I was trepidatious about buying Inquisition for nearly year. But I finally gave it a chance on the PS4 praying that it would live up to the quality of its gleaming roots, and upon completing the game after 120 hours of play I can honestly say this as my unbiased opinion:Dragon Age: Inquisition is the ultimate epic in interactive entertainment.It’s true.This game is more than just a fantasy RPG. It’s fun, it’s addictive, and its world will immerse you so completely that by the time you’ve finished playing you will almost be disappointed to have to go back to the ‘real’ world.The magical world of Thedas has been thrown into chaos after an explosion in the sky allows demons and evil spirits to come through and begin flooding the lands, destroying everything in mere existence. Step forward you, the Inquisitor, who mysteriously has the power to close the tears the demons have been spawning from, and then lead your military band, or ‘Inquisition,’ in a quest to restore order and defeat the corruption that caused the explosion in the first place.How you choose to go about leading the Inquisition almost feels infinite in possibility. You control your wider forces from a war table where you choose to have the option of tackling each problem either using diplomacy, covert activity, or military action, while you undertake your own journey to unearth the source of this madness along with your inner circle of companions. And what a journey it is. The world is huge, free, and has a life of its own, all with its own history and folklore that you can read about through hundreds of individual codex pieces. At one point I stopped on top a mountain top where I could see a giant and a dragon fight it out in the distance, and made myself a cup of tea while I watched. How many games do you get to see something like that? The work that must have gone into just writing the Dragon Age culture must have taken years in itself, combined with superb voice acting, gorgeous graphics, and a ridiculous number of decisions, dialogue options, and conversation choices that never fail to play on your emotions, and together you’ve got something really special.The game is not without its flaws, however. Not all your companions are likeable (I just don’t dig Varric and ended up playing a majority of the game without him). Also a bit of drag time is spent farming for plants and minerals to create better weapons and armour, but worst of all is that whilst the combat is fast, furious, and hugely satisfying, Bioware screwed up with the tactical camera in that you can control the targets and actions of each individual member of your party but any orders you give them will only be carried out for a few seconds before they all revert back to just attacking whoever you’re currently fighting with. I’m sure this piece of coding isn’t what was intended but unfortunately Bioware failed to fix this before release, meaning it does make some battles, particularly against tough multiple enemies all the more frustrating to overcome.Yet despite these issues they just don’t detract from that which Dragon Age: Inquisition manages to achieve in being : an amazing experience.When I think back to playing games like Streets of Rage and the original Donkey Kong in my youth, I can’t help but marvel at what a benchmark Inquisition represents in the video games medium of the modern age. It is the only game I think I would ever describe as being ‘too good’. The game is so rich and its world and characters are so detailed to the point that the game essentially creates an entire alternate reality of escapism that casual gamers would fail to find any enjoyment in it if they weren’t prepared to give themselves over entirely to the game’s own reality.Forget Walking Dead. Forget Mass Effect. Forget Witcher. And most importantly.....forget Dragon Age 2. If you’ve a week to kill and are just looking for an experience to lose yourself in, Dragon Age: Inquisition will grip you whole and leave you feeling just a bit different when you come out the other side.

25.11.2014

I am in the minority when I say this i'm sure but I liked Dragon Age II despite it having some large flaws, cracks which I was concerned was the cause of EA purchasing the developer Bioware. Inquisition has put many of those concerns to rest however and although not perfect it is an all round excellent game.The storyline carries on in many ways from Dragon Age II. The mages and their former keepers the Templars are still having their own war across the continent causing the suffering of many innocents. To attempt to end the war the head clerics of the chantry organise a peace meeting between the factions at the shrine of ashes.Instead of resolving the issue a ginormous explosion at the shrine kills everyone causing rifts to appear in the sky allowing demons to enter the world. Your character is the only survivor and has gained a mysterious ability to close the rifts. With the war waging, the church leaderless and demons pouring in only your character and the newly founded Inquisition can bring peace and order back.A lot of the game is spent expanding power for the inquisition, the more power they have, the more influence they have giving you access to new regions on the world map to explore. This is done through various ways from recruiting agents, completing side quests, crafting requisitions etc. Each area is huge and filled with content to do if you choose ( it took me 11 hours to explore the first area alone).While out and about you choose a party of characters which expand as the game goes on with various classes, races, personalities and skills. Given enough experience in combat like ay RPG they level up but unlike previous games you don't get to allocate stat points, only what skills to purchase which despite playing for many hours I can't decide if it really matters or not.Stats aside you can also equip characters with armour, accessories, weapons and attachments for them which really leads to my biggest gripe with the game, the menu system for everything is terrible. It's unintuitive, clumsy and horrible to use weather you're crafting, equiping or leveling, it's just badly designed.Combat is a bit of a mixture of Dragon Age 1, 2 and Mass Effect. Mages can no longer heal but can cast barriers as a sort of shield instead making potions more important then ever. It's quite fast and fairly flashy but each battle is fairly tough and the tactical view to relay commands to all your characters is a must on some tougher fights or difficulties.The characters themselves are interesting all with varied personalities, back stories, are mainly a joy to talk to and the possibility of being romanced like most Bioware titles. For some reason though outside of set story conversations or important dialogue the close up cinematic camera view during conversations has been removed leaving the camera in a birds eye view which I didn't like.This is a real shame because despite being a cross platform game Dragon Age is gorgeous visually and these conversations help show that with close ups of characters showing their detailed skin, and models. Even exploring around the scale of the environments, details and art design is very impressive. I took in game screenshots on quite a few occasions.For the first time in the series, coming off the back of the success of Mass Effect 3's attempt I should think comes multiplayer, and it's great. It's essentially four player co-op either with friends or public matchmaking where you work your way through an area together before killing a boss at the end. Each player picks a class, it levels up as you play and you can buy weapons or craft gear to make them stronger. Only three classes available at first with more unlocked as you craft armour for them. It's actually really quite fun, especially with friends, the only downside is that there are only three maps to play currently. I hope more are released at a later date.To sum up Inquisition is great looking, stuffed with content, and is generally a blast to play. It's not perfect but it is great fun and a step in the right direction for Bioware. If you like role playing games then this is a game that might be worth your time.+ Amazing amount of stuff to do.+ Interesting plot and characters.+ Combat is fun but challenging.+ Gorgeous visuals and presentation.+ Multiplayer is surprisingly fun.- Menu system is laughably dire.- Cinematic conversations only for certain dialogue.

1.12.2014

Dragon Age: Inquisition had A LOT to live up to. With the first instalment in the series being one of the most highly regarded RPGs ever made and the second being... not quite so, Bioware had to prove that the series was still relevant in a post Skyrim world. And, for the most part it has.To say there's been any drastic innovations would be a lie. Most likely fearful of changing things up to much from the original format, the tactical combat is back and it's mostly the same but a little more polished, except for that tactical camera... awkward and cumbersome, can't understand what went wrong there.Thankfully party AI is smart enough to the point where you don't feel the need to constantly go into tactical view to command them to do certain essential moves during combat.In terms of story and the way you interact with the world, it's your fairly standard Bioware affair. Not that there's any problem with that, though I still think the animations during conversations are far too static. Characters will stand around awkwardly, crossing and uncrossing their arms, shuffling there feet and sometimes just freezing in place entirely. These where the only real game breaking bugs I had in my 60 hours or so play time. Characters would freeze after certain, sometimes crucial dialogue moments forcing me to restart the game entirely. Frustrating at times but not so frequent that it forced me to put the game down for good. Party members are great as to be expected. There's not much to say there really. Varying in skill layouts, it's the usual 'pick who you prefer deal'.Like I said, the story is fairly standard for Bioware. It has some really great moments, but never really finds its stride. It's well paced and the characters and lore are all well rounded as usual, it's just the story itself which feels a little weak. Not bad by any means, just not as good as I was expecting.Music is great, of course. After all, it's Bioware. Trevor Morris, A fairly new composer when it comes to big budget games has done a fantastic job. The tunes are lovely and atmospheric and the main theme is incredible. Really does get you pumped to save the world.Last thing I'm going to cover is the world itself. Not entirely open world, traversing the land of Thedas feels more like an MMO then anything else which is something I actually prefer. Not that each little area is instanced, you're given a world map and you'll unlock regions as the game progresses. Each area feels different and are all entirely beautiful in their own ways.But alas, all these big, glorious areas are the biggest problem for me. It's TOO big. The game obviously works on a levelling up system and some of the main missions will be too difficult until you've reached the recommended level. You'll therefore have to grind some of the previous areas for experience which isn't a problem at first. But after so many hours of it, you'll notice that a lot of the quests are just copy pasted, genuinely making it feel like a grind. It never gets boring, just a little tiresome. I would have much preferred the Mass Effect style of doing things. A number of fixed events which keep you invested in the story. Bioware are masters of storytelling and I genuinely think that doing this would have been preferable to such a large world with tons of things to do. But instead, you're almost forced to constantly check your equipment, level up and agonise over your party members weapon customisations to ensure they're doing maximum damage at all times. Sometimes you don't need a huge world to feel invested; Bioware of all devs should know this.However, despite my gripes, it's an amazing game throughout. It feels like the game the team at Bioware wanted to make and as a result, it's stupidly addictive RPG fun.

28.1.2015

I have to take my hat off to Bioware as the have won me over.I loved Dragon Age: Origins. Having grown up playing games like Baldur's Gate, it was everything I could have hoped for in an RPG.When Dragons Age 2 came out I pre ordered it and... I hated it. Bioware had taken virtually every element I loved and just trashed it. Virtually no customisation, repetition, repetition, repetition and a script like it was written by a 15 year old. My resentment was all the more because I invested hours and hours into the game hoping against hope it would get better.I waited a few months before buying Dragon Age: Inquisition to check reviews and gameplay. Simply put,it has a few faults but in general it is just great.You have full customisation, including party members, and that means skills and equipment. There is no customisation of stats, these go up in set progressions, but you can give your characters increased stats depending on equipment.The equipment is just great and it is craftable, upgradable and customisable.Dialogue is great, particularly between characters. Others have said it, but talking to characters yourself at your camp/hub doesn't often get you a lot of information. However, adventure with them and the dialogue back and forth between the characters really gives you heaps of background and story and you start to feel invested in them.Graphics and sound are generally amazing. Really amazing. Landscapes are so detailed, varied and interesting. Character models are great when adventuring and generally look great. Some character models can look a little ropey up close, particularly when talking. Some of the character models look like they have been taken directly out of Dragon Age 2, weird posture and all. These are fairly minor issues and it should be said most of the character models are super.Gameplay is just great too. At first, you feel rather wimpy. However, there is a point at around levels 9 and 10 when I suddenly felt quite powerful. I'd made some armour and a weapon, upgraded it with upgrades I made, got some skills trained and things started to click. Attacks feel powerful and there is a good sense of weight and bite.There are some issues that I don't like. The best parts of the game involve wide open environments and exploring them is just a joy. There are other parts, however, where the area is small and walled off, the most surprising of these being Val Royaux. You will not have instances like in the Witcher 2 or Skyrim where you approach towns and travel through their outskirts. This is a huge shame. In places where the game opens out, it really is at its best and easily at times surpasses Skyrim for beauty and variety. It makes these more throwback parts both surprising and a little jarring, as well as annoying.My other issue is the UI. It takes a little getting used to. It is quite slick and does the job, I just feel it could be more user-friendly, particularly as EA does its usual thing of not giving you a manual with the disk.Despite these minor issuss this game is in my opinion just great for the most part and, despite a few less great parts, is hugely entertaining. Well worth 4/5.

26.1.2015

KEEP IN MIND THAT THE GAME MUST INSTALL ON YOUR INTERNAL HARD DRIVE. Don't make the same mistake as I did. If your Xbox 360 only has 4 GB of space as mine did, you will need additional INTERNAL memory. You can find internal hard drives on Amazon or any other store. No, you cannot use external hard drives, usb or flash drives. This game requires at least 7 gb to install.I've played for about 15 hours, so there isn't too much I can say about the story but there is about the rest:1. Controls: on the Xbox, pretty easy. I've played also on PC and I can tell you they are much harder to follow. No secrets when it comes to how to handle the controls.2. Graphics: not bad, not good. If you can buy this game for PC,Xbox One or PS4 please, please, do not hesitate, it will look so much nicer. If you can't afford to play on the new gens and Xbox 360 is the only way you'll play it, go ahead. Don't decide not to play the game just because the graphics won't be as good, you'll be missing out on a lot. There are not as many details as on the other platforms, not as many textures, it has a hard time loading, some characters (like Leliana) look somewhat weird, banners and statues are not great... But it is, aside from that, a very pretty game. Sometimes it looks beautiful, sometimes it doesn't. It's like an improved Origins. If you could play through Origins without cringing, this won't be a problem.3. Gameplay: it's fun. You can jump around, you can ride a horse, you have huge (I'm telling you, HUGE) places to investigate. Even though you have A LOT of quests, it always seems like you have a purpose for doing them, and that purpose is to help the Inquisition. There's a loot of looting (really, a lot of it), and it never feels like "ugh, why am I even picking this up", since you will later use it all to craft various things once you return to your main camp.4. Fighting: it's somewhere between Origins and II. On Origins, if you ran towards the enemy, you died. On II, you most likely would win. On Inquisition, you don't need to plan as much as the creators said you would. Minor enemies you'll handle no problem. Even bosses by themselves or with one or two minions are fine. But if you run towards a group without even hiding your mages or rogues, you'll all die. Limited amount of potions, you can handle all right with them since you can replenish at nearby camps. If you go around without potions, you will struggle. Mages are not vital anymore, but they are useful. Also, you will find that there are areas that are for higher levels (like a dragon who is level 12 and you're level 8), but not too many of those (at least at the beginning).5. Characters and story: I can't really tell. So far it's a very interesting game with very interesting characters, but I'm afraid I can't give you much more info.And I think that's all of it. I hope this helped. It is a GREAT, GREAT game. I won't give it 5 stars because the Xbox 360 struggles a bit with it.

5.1.2015

This is my first Dragon Age game. I have previously dabbled with Mass Effect on Xbox, but never really got that much into it. I also am no expert on RPGs- never really having the time to invest. However, I got this over Xmas and decided to invest a bit of time into it.First thing I noticed about this one is that whilst I have often given up quickly on these types of games before due to being time poor, this one seemed to get a bit of a hook in me from the off. I am now around 20 hours into the game.Next, I did find the myriad of options, character menus, crafting, potion menus etc a little bewildering at first, and to be honest I am still not to grips with all of it. There is very little hand holding here I found.However, I feel I am slowly learning it and picking it up, and the tip from me is not to feel anxious or put off by not understanding everything at first; as the hours while away, it all starts slotting into place.I found the battles too tough, so am playing now on casual level- I think this is better for me, as it means I win more battles and now I am starting to level up- which makes winning easier. Don't be afraid to play on casual- there is still 100 hours of gameplay, and you can progress through the story arc, unless you like a tough challenge its ideal for players like me who are fairly inexperienced in the genre. I just don't have time to have any hope of seeing all this game but having to repeat lost battles all of the time.You do need time to play this. I work 12 hours a day, so its tough, and it has caused me a few late nights. I suppose it is praise indeed to say that I can start on this and 3 hours are gone in the blink of an eye. As someone else reported, it really needs at least a 2 hour session a time. I wish I was retired!The graphics are very good indeed- a few glitches but nothing to get worried about.The story and narrative, even at my early stage is excellent. Not since The Last Of Us have a found a game to be on my mind so much when not actually playing it- again, praise indeed.I suspect the character and decision driven changes to the story are a bit of an illusion- what we have here is a very open world game, and it is next to impossible to combine that with a truly user defined storyline - if the story falls apart then what makes this game so brilliant- its engagement in the story and characters, goes with it. You still have to get from A to B to finish the story, and most of the major stories in that journey are just too large, important to the whole, and detailed to mean that different players are going to have vastly different experiences. Otherwise the producers would have had to employ a team ten times the size and the game would be 10 times the size. We have to be realistic in what is possible, but Bioware does a fantastic job of creating that illusion.

5.2.2015

As I write this the credits are rolling on Dragon Age Inquisition and I can honestly say it is one of the best games I have played. Period. A few years ago Dragon Age: Origins came along and blew my mind. It proved a hard game to top but I think Inquisition has managed to draw level with it and in some areas completely surpass. Here are my thoughts.First of all the maps are utterly gorgeous. The Arbor Wilds is particularly stunning, as is the vast Hissing Wastes. Each level drips with detail. The maps are open world but remain separate, you can’t wander from one locale to another getting your quests mixed and fuddled up. I personally prefer this separate open world level approach than a complete open world,it just makes it all feel tighter and more focused.The combat is awesome. Smooth, fun and as deep as you’re comfortable with. The tactical view is much improved. I played as a mage/ knight enchanter and I am surprised at how easy I found the game. Origins and 2 were tough but I turned Inquisition up to hard at around the half way mark, even then it didn’t cause much trouble. I can only assume that nightmare difficulty takes quite a leap up.The audio, as always with Dragon Age, is a highlight. The soundtrack fits beautifully and the voice acting is superb, not a single dud voice that I can pick out.I liked all of the available companions, yes all. Each of them was well written and unique. My personal favourite was Cassandra who proved to be tough as nails but also very torn and troubled by the state of the world.It took me 126:31 to complete the game. That’s without getting every collectible there is. I’m happy with the run time, I started playing at the beginning of January so it’s really a beefy game with so much to sink your teeth into.I haven’t spent much time on the multiplayer yet but it plays alot like story mode with a greater focus on loot. It was very smooth whenever I played it.Throughout the entire game I experienced one, yes one, only one glitch! How rare these days to play a game not riddled with cracks. Said glitch was the Dragon Slayer trophy not popping. Other than that I haven’t experienced a single crash or any running problems at all, which is commendable with a game this big.Overall Dragon Age Inquisition was worth every second I poured into it. The universe is rich and interesting as are the characters and the story. The story wasn’t as raw and emotionally charged as that of origins but it was still enjoyable. The Dragon Age series/universe was already high up on my list of favourite stuff to geekgasm over but with Inquisition it has solidified itself as my favourite traditional fantasy game and universe. It truly isn’t to be miss. A triumph. I can’t wait to play it all again!

25.11.2014

In teras of how this compares to previous installments - in terms of story and characters and that feeling of need-to-stay-up-all-night to play, this one is my favourite so far to be honest. It is let down by the platform, for sure, especially in terms of looks (though the opening - all that snow! - is especially unforgiving, I've found later cut scenes look much better), and there are a few glitches, which is why I haven't given it five stars.Story - I don't want to spoil it, and you can easily find it in detail elsewhere if you want, but it's your standard be the hero, save the world stuff. Bioware as usual has put its own spin on it, tying in questions of faith, magic, and sin,and allowing you to play as a very reluctant hero if you so choose.Characters - amazing. your team are all well rounded and distinctive, your own character even feels more solid (and much less like you're in someone else's head, as with DA2's Hawke). Varric makes a very welcome return, as does Leliana (though not playable alas), but all the new people hold their own just fine.Sound - the music is PHENOMENAL, best soundtrack so far by a mile. Quite subtle sometimes, other times in your face majesty. the voice acting knocks it out the park, too.Writing - no surprise, the writing is fab. there are some awkward bits, of course, bioware does sometimes struggle to balance exposition with normal dialogue, but on the whole, marvellous.Looks - it struggles here, to be honest. glitches aside, the character faces look very stiff at times - voice acting is giving lots of emotions and the faces just don't match sometimes. The hair looks really odd, too, very shiny! given that it was meant for next gen and clearly pared back for us, I can get past it. if really amazing graphics are what you're after, skip this I'm afraid, cos they ain't here.Glitches - most of these are your usual bioware fare of textures not loading, ears clipping through things, that sort of thing. annoying, but par for the course really. I have had to restart my ps3 a few times, though - and these often come in groups for some reason, not sure why. Hopefully patches will improve the stability, because right now it feels a bit...loose.As a game (taking the glitches aside) I'd give it an 8.5, maybe even a 9 out of 10. On PS3 specifically, and with the glitches as noted above, I'd knock a point off. What can I say? I'm really loving this game a lot.Update: in the comments here someone suggested turning off the three online options (under the 'Account' section of the options menu) to improve stability. I've tried this and I think it does make things a little smoother, so if you're getting a lot of glitches maybe try that.

13.12.2014

I had high hopes for Inquisition, and those hopes have been answered. We get new characters including appearances from the older characters from Origins and Dragon Age 2, including Liliana (one of the new main characters), Morrigan, Alister, Hawke and two Dragon Age 2 characters whose names escaped me. The exploration has to be a key added feature for Inquisition, we can finally explore the open world in all its glory for both Ferelden and Orlais. It doesn't feel like corridor based gameplay anymore, the Dragon age environment has finally come to life, with animals running around available for hunting, rifts to close, new enemies to kill and new loot to collect. Crafting has also been vitally improved,

16.1.2015

Hm, wow....I didn't expect such an old-school and heavy-weight RPG when I started playing this. Sure, a lot of "modern game design" elements and choices are floating around (the extensive, almost Ubisoftish quest map, the very moderate difficulty setting, instant quicktravel from and to virtually everywhere).But at the core this one feels like Baldur's Gate in new robes and shows a lot of actual heart, which is definitely hard to find for me in most modern games. The story is rather generic, but the game world is beautiful and VAST (in both size and background) and feels amazingly rewarding to explore, and there are TONS of dialogue that make the NPCs and especially your numerous companions come across alive and interesting.

14.12.2014

There is little more to say: characters were complex and thought provoking, the plot contained delightful twists and turns, and the voice acting on the whole was flawless, particularly in the forms of the Iron Bull and Dorian Pavus. I am still not a fan of the predominantly three ways to respond answer wheel, as honestly I prefer DA:O's options as it gave more of a chance to develop your protag (Hawke didn't really feel like my character). I will admit that this game does provide more opportunities for a more diverse response with the emotional spectrum options at particular moments. Still I've drifted away from my first inquisitor as characterisations fades in the face of choosing snarky or

12.10.2016

Played up to level 12 as an Elf Mage. The game is beautiful with great environments, Hinterlands green forests, Forbidden Oasis a labyrinth desert maze, Storm Coast intuitively self obvious, etc. The party mechanic is very well done, limited to 4, 3 on AI that follow you and assist in combat, Warrior, Rogue and another Mage. Very easy setting them up, so the Warrior has expertise in One Handed Weaponry and Battlefield Tactics, Mage on the excellent Spirit and Cold Magic trees, and the Rogue on Archery and Subterfuge. The game allows you to easily reset the skill points, costs approx 340 gold, so you can change from one tree to another, if for example you get a Unique drop from a boss.I found that for my Mage the Storm tree is the business,

17.4.2016

Just realised i never reviewed this... why? because i have been constantly replaying this game since january...and true, i occasionally get annoyed by repeating the same collection sidequest for the *checks* twelfth time...but then one of the companions makes a quip i haven't heard yet and i'm genuinely laughing... i can't give a gameplay review really, i'm not hardcore, all i can say is that this is one of the most witty fantasy projects i've come across outside of terry pratchett...the storyline is strong! the characters are wonderfully fleshed but also somewhat projectable...and the romance subplots...oh the romance subplots...addictive, my friends! addictive! i warn you!i bought this for two reasons,

Dragon Age: Inquisition - Reviews

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