BioWare's second MMORPG... without the massive multiplayer part
I will be honest, I'm not a huge fan of BioWare's titles. After playing almost all their games, I do enjoy their reputable RPG formula and the stories they tell. However, it feels like they ignore everything else (like side quests, gameplay, exploration etc.).
Dragon Age Inquisition is the perfect example. I tried to like this but I'm left with immensely mixed feelings. A lot of aspects like the story, world-building, companions and combat are exceptionally well-done and of high quality, while others (exploration, side quests, some gameplay features) are very bad and annoying.
For starters, all the quest zones feel the same as the Hinterlands (the starting area). Every single one of them. All are filled with the same fetch quests - typical MMO filler - for you to get a tiny bit of companion approval, XP and fame. Most of the side quests you get by finding and reading some letters. It's best to just ignore everything which is not in the "Inquistor's Path" (main story) or "Inner Circle" (companions) part of the journal.
This leads to another problem - you can't just play the story because you more or less need to grind XP, gear and materials. Yes, you need to collect tons of materials which you can and should use for upgradings and crafting new gear. Some quests require a certain amount of materials to continue, most of the time nothing too crazy but it's worth mentioning because I can see how a lot of players would entirely skip gathering resources. Or you can download some mods.
As for the gameplay itself, the combat is punchy and spectacular with lots of spell combos, although a lot of people (mainly Dragon Age Origins fans) don't like the direction BioWare took. I hate the limited 8 skill slots. It was hard to get excited about levelling up near the end, as any new ability meant the loss of another one I had sunk several skill points into already, so I ended up forcing myself on passive abilities. What's more annoying are "little" things like not being able to sprint, the slow movement of the mount you eventually unlock, long looting animations etc. Most of which can, again, be fixed with mods.
As for the positives, the main story is quite intriguing and a lot more creative than most fantasies, although it does have the redundant "chosen one" trope. I especially liked the banter between all the different companions. They will ask each other either serious or dumb questions and tease each other. Some of their dialogues are so good that they made me laugh (mostly thanks to Sera). It's one of the reasons why I pushed myself to beat DA: I and get all the achievements. However, the banter in the vanilla game is for some reason so rare that you need to, that's right, download some mods.
Overall, I'm conflicted on whether or not I enjoyed my time with Dragon Age Inquisition, but I wouldn't recommend it simply because there are more negatives than positives. I can see why a lot of people might and do enjoy it, but personally, I hate MMORPGs and for the most part, it felt like a waste of time.
I will be honest, I'm not a huge fan of BioWare's titles. After playing almost all their games, I do enjoy their reputable RPG formula and the stories they tell. However, it feels like they ignore everything else (like side quests, gameplay, exploration etc.).
Dragon Age Inquisition is the perfect example. I tried to like this but I'm left with immensely mixed feelings. A lot of aspects like the story, world-building, companions and combat are exceptionally well-done and of high quality, while others (exploration, side quests, some gameplay features) are very bad and annoying.
For starters, all the quest zones feel the same as the Hinterlands (the starting area). Every single one of them. All are filled with the same fetch quests - typical MMO filler - for you to get a tiny bit of companion approval, XP and fame. Most of the side quests you get by finding and reading some letters. It's best to just ignore everything which is not in the "Inquistor's Path" (main story) or "Inner Circle" (companions) part of the journal.
This leads to another problem - you can't just play the story because you more or less need to grind XP, gear and materials. Yes, you need to collect tons of materials which you can and should use for upgradings and crafting new gear. Some quests require a certain amount of materials to continue, most of the time nothing too crazy but it's worth mentioning because I can see how a lot of players would entirely skip gathering resources. Or you can download some mods.
As for the gameplay itself, the combat is punchy and spectacular with lots of spell combos, although a lot of people (mainly Dragon Age Origins fans) don't like the direction BioWare took. I hate the limited 8 skill slots. It was hard to get excited about levelling up near the end, as any new ability meant the loss of another one I had sunk several skill points into already, so I ended up forcing myself on passive abilities. What's more annoying are "little" things like not being able to sprint, the slow movement of the mount you eventually unlock, long looting animations etc. Most of which can, again, be fixed with mods.
As for the positives, the main story is quite intriguing and a lot more creative than most fantasies, although it does have the redundant "chosen one" trope. I especially liked the banter between all the different companions. They will ask each other either serious or dumb questions and tease each other. Some of their dialogues are so good that they made me laugh (mostly thanks to Sera). It's one of the reasons why I pushed myself to beat DA: I and get all the achievements. However, the banter in the vanilla game is for some reason so rare that you need to, that's right, download some mods.
Overall, I'm conflicted on whether or not I enjoyed my time with Dragon Age Inquisition, but I wouldn't recommend it simply because there are more negatives than positives. I can see why a lot of people might and do enjoy it, but personally, I hate MMORPGs and for the most part, it felt like a waste of time.