1. Open World Dissonance
Like most open world games, DA:I has a problem with it's gameplay matching it's narrative. The few games to do this well, in my opinion was Sleeping Dogs (because it's so restrictive) and Grand Theft Auto 5 (with one MAJOR exception in its main story). DA:I does it better than many open world games, but not quite as well as those two.
The first problem are those side quests I mentioned in part 1. Too many fall into the "fetch quest" category. I can understand why I would want to do these (to win over the hearts and minds of the people) but why is THE INQUISITOR doing this. I'm the leader of an army and I'm looking for a corpse to retrieve a wedding ring to give back to a widow, or I'm delivering a letter like a messenger, or I'm locating a supply catch because apparently I employ the worst scouts ever. I should fire my scouts....except for Harding, who is adorable. She can stay.
There is some NOT shown, but implied, badassery from this Dwarf.
Even NPC's remark how weird this is when they say, "When I requested for Inquisition help, I didn't expect The Inquisitor himself to show up!". Yeah, good point bro. I'm the goddamn Inquisitor. I have a goddamn War Table where I am already assigning my goddamn advisers to do very similar goddamn things. Why am I doing this?
Some of the companion quests are like this too. I guess I can understand hunting down dangerous mages to appease Cassandra since she's a friend, but collecting Grey Warden artifacts for Blackwall? Why??? Don't I have a historian or some sort of researcher I can send out to find these things? They don't even matter to a certain main story mission that deals EXCLUSIVELY with the Grey Wardens. Why am I doing this? And don't get me started on destroying Red Lyrium for Varric. It's fucking everywhere in this game! The handful of it I destroy isn't going to make much of a difference if there is tons of the stuff growing out of the ground, which I CAN'T destroy. I'm the goddamn Inquisitor, not a miner, geologist, or scientist. Unless, Leliana asks of course.
Oh, uh, yes ma'am. Just...just don't kill me in my sleep. I love and fear you.
The absolute worst case of this dissonance is resource collection. Since I liked the crafting system so much, I was constantly stopping, often in the middle of battle, to collect plants or chip away at some rocks. Yes, I can assign my advisers to collect resources at the War Table but when they come back they have, like, 10 elfroot. Seriously? I found a hill with more than 10 elfroot and it didn't take me 10 to 15 minutes to do so! That said, some OTHER War Table missions do provide a good supply of resources although they are tough to find or unlock. Regardless, most of the resources are collected by the player and........
I AM THE GODDAMN INQUISITOR AND I'M PICKING FUCKING FLOWERS. Shouldn't I have someone to do this for me? This can make sense if my character is some nobody, but I'm the leader of an army/heretic religion. This would be like President Obama personally mining the titanium for that space laser the military is building.
2. Questionable Plot Decisions
In Dragon Age 2, there is a mission to the Deep Roads that leads to finding an idol carved out of Red Lyrium. Several times in that game, it's mentioned that nobody has ever seen Red Lyrium before. In DA:I, it's fucking everywhere, is a major part of the story, and it's never explained why it's coming out of the ground in so many places. Uhh, okay. I guess we're just going to let that plot hole go huh?
It is literally everywhere.
Near the end of the battle at Adamant, you can choose to sacrifice Hawke or some other Grey Warden who nobody gives a shit of course I sacrificed him. Did it matter? No. Hawke fucks off to the other side of the world to never be heard from again. (Hawke is the player character from DA2 for those reading who don't know).
Vivienne and Cole, two companions, liked to disapprove of every choice I've ever made. Did they leave the Inquisition.? Of course not. I never felt like a companion was going to leave, or die, from my choices. I was genuinely surprised to find videos on Youtube of Cassandra hating the shit out of some other persons Inquisitor. I think you have to actively be trying to get them to hate you.
Far too often does this game not give any pay off. Wither it's a set in stone main story point like the Red Lyrium or fluid things like player choice, none of it gets a satisfying answer.
Oh, and where the fuck was Anders???? I actually spared that assholes life at the end of DA2, regretted it, but then realized it might be awesome having him alive for DA:I. He was the one who blew up the Chantry in Kirkwall. He started the mage rebellion. WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?
Oh, and where the fuck was Anders???? I actually spared that assholes life at the end of DA2, regretted it, but then realized it might be awesome having him alive for DA:I. He was the one who blew up the Chantry in Kirkwall. He started the mage rebellion. WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?
The single best argument NOT to be Pro-Mage.
3. Late Game Weirdness
Once Morrigan joined, I knew shit was gonna get weird. I like Morrigan's character as she is one of the few from any Bioware game that makes you wonder if they can truly be trusted. It was like that in DA:O, and it's VERY like that here. However, if Morrigan is around, you know Flemeth is going to show up at some point and bullshit is gonna happen.
The problem with Flemeth is that she is a Deus Ex Machina character that only shows up when Bioware's writers have a problem. She fixes everything. She always helps the heroes even though it's always hinted that she has some sort of ulterior motive...BUT THAT NEVER COMES UP. Flemeth has somehow infiltrated the Well of Sorrows, which is supposed to be the "home" of a former Elvan god named Mythal, or, at least her spirit or some shit. It turns out, that Flemeth is hosting Mythal as "a part of her" like some overused spirituality cliche that wayyyyy too much fiction uses. (Seriously. I'm sick of this trope in Sci-fi and Fantasy. Stop it!). Flemeth/Mythals answer to defeat Corypheus, the main villain, is to give Morrigan the power to turn into a Dragon, to fight HIS Dragon which ALSO hosts a part of him HOLY SHIT stop this stupid trope.
Most of the "not to be trusted" thing is image though.
The final mission is severely rushed. Corypheus opens a new breach with the power of the orb and...wait wait wait. I thought the orb lost it's power. Didn't the Inquisitor steal it? Wasn't that why he was so pissed to begin with? How did he suddenly have the power to connect to the Fade again?
Ugh.
Anyway, after Morrigan completely fails at killing Corypheus' dragon, I have to fight it anyway just as if it's any other Dragon in the game (some of which are much stronger). After the dragon is dead, Corypheus is vulnerable, and I fight him while he tries to manipulate the Breach with an orb that shouldn't have any power. Then I killed him with my magic hand mark (....it can do that?), and then the orb breaks and, Solas fucks off????? Didn't know you loved the orb so much bro.
While I think the game did a good job with a post final boss end game party, even though it was phoned in, and the slideshow ending showed what choices mattered, even if it's just a prelude to another Dragon Age game that will probably whitewash everything, this game still had a better ending than most games. After 70 hours, I think I accomplished something. I think.
That after credits scene though, holy shit. What...the...fuck? Flemeth throws a part of herself through the Eluvian Mirror (a magic portal) as she is known to do, except for, you know, any newbies playing. Then she talks to Solas, who is also Dread Wolf who fucked over the Elves a billion years ago or something, and then invades his body with magic. So....does that mean he is now Solas/Dread Wolf, Flemeth, AND Mythal? Uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Was this in the Codex? It better not have been buried in the Codex. And does that mean Solas was secretly a villain? I knew there was a reason I didn't like that guy.
But....WHY though?
Final Thoughts
All in all, Dragon Age:Inquisition is not a bad game, nor is it a great game. I'd say it's pretty okay, borderline good. The most frustrating thing about this game is that the building blocks were there for a great game but it just didn't come together the way it could have. Dragon Age continues to be that "other" major Bioware property for me mainly because of it's inability to take that final step into greatness.
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Read my general review of Dragon Age:Inquisition here.
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