Review: Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition has already been awarded the prestigious Golden Barrel for 2014. Whilst it refrains from being flawless – any game of this sheer size could never be without its share of hiccups – what we see of the good is enough to convince any Dragon Age player that this is the Dragon Age game we deserve. Inquisition pulls a lot of the positive qualities found in the series together in an outstanding visual, immersive, storytelling package that’s brimming with gameplay. It’s an escapist’s dream.

Developer: BioWare
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Reviewed on: Xbox One
Also Available On: Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PC
Release Date: Available Now

BRB-Score-5

Dragon Age: Inquisition introduces a protagonist with a new title. We’ve been the Hero of Ferelden; the Champion of Kirkwall; and now, we lead the Inquisition, an emergency organisation established after the Divine (the head of the Thedas Chantry) is killed and glowing green holes have ripped open the skies. Rift immediately comes to mind, the free-to-play MMO. All across the world, rifts are opening up that only the Inquisitor, with his/her anchor-to-the-fade, can disrupt and close for good.

Inquisition5

The Divine, Kirkwall, The Fade.. One thing to note about Inquisition is that you have to complete the previous two games or be an extremely fast learner in order to understand what on earth is going on. The plot is extremely unforgiving to newbies, given that the majority of the story is set against a rebellion that aptly you had a hand in initiating in Dragon Age II. Woops. Not only this, but returning characters will have much more of an impact if you’re actually familiar with them – it’s likely there will be a smile on your face when the King of Ferelden comes visiting, or Hawke reappears. It’s also just a lot more fun knowing these characters and seeing how they have evolved. Leliana is a great example; her character has hardened considerably, and her work as Spymaster for the Inquisition feels very fitting to her hidden relentlessness.

leliana.3

Another tip for returning players is how significant utilising The Keep can be. This feature, set up by BioWare back before the game was released, allows players to set up a world-state for Inquisition. This means that you can input all the decisions you made over the course of Dragon Age: Origins and II and export this collection of choices into your new Inquisition game, influencing the countless references, appearances and events that are related to the previous games. Dragon Age: Inquisition is all about continuity, and this vast world really doesn’t feel right when your previous choices haven’t had a visible impact.

From the game’s start those familiar with the series will notice some not-so-expected changes, like the removal of auto-attack combat and the added ability of jumping. These changes actually feel huge after the familiar Dragon Age blend of role-playing and tactical combat. Yet, it’s not as if this reworking wasn’t needed, particularly after criticisms of Dragon Age II about the limitations of exploration. Inquisition is the antithesis to limitation; the map is colossal and the immersion amazing, given each fast-travel area within Ferelden and Orlais has a unique style. There are numerous landscapes, biomes, weather and wildlife, and when combined with a clear lack of invisible walls or no-go areas, it becomes a true open-world dream.

Inquisition2

The diversity is notable – the best of gaming’s medieval themes shines here, revealed when walking dungeons, crypts or abandoned forts amidst gorgeous lighting and shadow effects. Open torches set on the walls create realistic shadows and incredible solitary ambience, and when coupled with atmospheric sound – the crackling of said torches, or the echoing footsteps of your Inquisitor against the stone – sets up an experience of true escapism. Environments can feel threatening, menacing and dangerous for your Inquisitor and their companions – yet they can also feel natural, gentle and tranquil. One of my favourite locations in the game is Emerald Graves, found in the Dales and overflowing with Elvish elegance and wilderness. Exploring this area mounted on my hart feels so right.

However, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the expansiveness of the world. Once you’ve discovered you can jump in the air and actually stray from the path (trust me, it feels foreign after playing Dragon Age II) it’s easy to go crazy in The Hinterlands, the first open-world location you hit, helping the local farm folk and battling the templars and mages littering the landscape. I was probably a good 12 hours into the game before I left The Hinterlands, recalling that reasonably important main questline.

Inquisition6

I’m not too sure if it’s an indicator of some weakness that made me a little reluctant to leave open-exploration and small tasks, or if the heavy distraction from what should be the most important RPG element – the story – highlights the issues that vast areas and countless miscellaneous quests can have, and that’s completion. There’s no way you can complete every small quest, unlock every landmark or astrarium, in your first visit to The Hinterlands, and neither should you – return to Haven and enjoy progressing in the main story and unlocking more areas to dive in and out of.

Inquisition is rich with gameplay, with many true RPG features made to be interacted with. The only way to acquire new potions is to craft your own; weapon and armor crafting opens up a whole host of customisability in terms of balancing stats, changing the design and naming each piece of a character’s gear.

Inquisition3

Limited resources means starting small – my rogue Inquisitor found a schematic for a better dagger grip, and using onyx metal and fur I slightly increased her critical hit chance and her ability to stagger enemies. It’s a very neat way to equip each character according to their own personalities and needs, although it could understandably be better laid out – moving back and forth between the ‘craft’, ‘modify’ and character inventory screens is a little frustrating, and it takes a little while to learn the ins and outs of creating and personalising everyone’s equipment.

All in all, Inquisition has a host of neat gameplay features that can take up the better portion of your time; yet like many BioWare titles, it essentially comes down to the quality of characters and story. Diversity is key in a world filled with many vibrant individuals, although some are notably more out-loud interesting than others. Iron Bull is Dragon Age‘s first Qunari companion, and he’s not exactly what you’d expect. He’s also the only character that any kind of Inquisitor can romance, which raises some interesting questions itself..

Inquisition

Whilst there’s been a little disgruntlement towards the number of hetero-male romance options in the game (Cassandra or Josephine) it’s made for some very interesting articles and gameplay. A (male) friend of mine said he enjoyed the fact there wasn’t so much pandering towards male audiences as we’ve seen before (Mass Effect 2‘s Miranda, anyone?) and players seem more inclined to seek the character that works right for their Inquisitor, as opposed to the ‘right’ gender.

Open-world gameplay feels perfect for a Dragon Age game
Distinct art-style across a diverse range of locations
Continuity with previous  games – returning characters
The open-world can feel bogged down with misc. quests that distract from the story

Reviewing a game of this magnitude within one article is a sure challenge, but so is experiencing the game with one playstyle, or one romance option, or through just one of the number of routes traversable towards healing Thedas and stopping Corypheus.

The review copy of this title was purchased by the author.
Official Game Site

Tags: , , , ,

Comments

  1. Ridcullys Hat

    Seeing as I’m (only) 35 hours in and am just about to take on the rift (haven’t met corypheus. Yet) I am going to agree with everything you say. I love the game immensely but some characters are better rounded than others and the world is so big its incredibly intimidating and immersive. Not quite on par with skyrim but bioware have taken the criticisms and tried their best to make the ultimate dragon age experience and for the most part, I think they’ve succeeded.

  2. Ridcullys Hat

    I did play the others and forgot to bring my decisions with me as I just wanted to get stuck into it. I have tried to do as much as I can and have spent alot of time messing about and just exploring, which is why I’ve spent so much time before this point of the story, just figuring out what’s new and the like. I have done some crafting and modification but keep forgetting about it as I just want to see as much as I can. Still haven’t beaten a dragon yet as they are proper hard to beat. Varric and bull are my 2 favourites to have with me but sera and Dorian are a close second. It is a real pleasure to play and listen to their conversations between themselves and one especially between bull and varric about a dodgy deal to do with cocoa did make me chuckle as did bull and Dorian about polishing his staff. It is a very complex world, not perfect but I would love to know where bioware take the series from here.

  3. Alex

    I spoke to someone who completed EVERYTHING (all side quests included) in 230 hours. Upon hearing the number my knees started trembling. XD

    I am doing as much as I can but my curiosity sometimes makes me rush into the story missions that are too complicated. I had to re-do a few parts because I got there too early and couldn’t handle the boss fights. To be fair, the game does specify the levels required for that mission. I am just not good enough at the game to be able to fight through boss fights on the minimum required level.

    Yeah, the conversation between the characters are really good! I really like to see how they interact with each other and it helps me to understand them better (as I am not familiar with the Universe as a newbie).

    Also wait till you meet the guy who throws goats! That’s all I will say 😉

  4. Ridcullys Hat

    I’ve always enjoyed the conversations and have even bought the graphic novel series that’s a direct sequel to 2. It basically fills in the gap between 2 and 3 with what varric and alistair did and its written by the games writer as well. Varric was always my favourite character from 2 and is brilliant in 3 as he’s just as dodgy and is a well rounded character who you instantly enjoy being around as he is full of witty comments and when he is just chatting with the others it can be hilarious. I suppose you could do with knowing a bit of the history from the other games as it gives you context for the world and the inhabitants therein but once you have a foot hold it is a joy to play and the dialogue is great. I’m trying to be a whiter than white inquisitor but that is not as easy as I thought. Some of my decisions have been based on how I know the characters behave from previous games and how they seem to have changed. I’ve even dabbled in the online element, which is a nice distraction and a pleasant, if unwarranted addition. Its good to know that whoever you are, your experience will be different to someone else’s. My main problem is my addiction to hunting those damned shards. I’ve become obsessed by them since I’ve discovered what seems to be what they’re for.

  5. Alex

    I think (maybe?) I know what they are for as well. Quite curious to find out if I am right or not. The problem with shards is that one of the side missions — that is dedicated to collecting shards — is in the area full of mountains / rocks, and climbing on the them is the pain in the ass! :S

  6. Ridcullys Hat

    I know mate, I tried to take on the frostback ferelden as a few were in the area of that thing as well as some obsidian, in the end I left my party fighting it and ran around and climbed about while they kept it busy. I’ve cleared the 3 areas I have unlocked of shards now and am about to take on the breach. Or maybe have another try at the frostback as I saw some guy do it on youtube and it took about 30 minutes at level 10 and the loot was amazing he got from that. Its just so easy to get overwhelmed when it brings in its dragonlings. I realise I’ve barely touched the surface of this game even at this many hours but its the sign of a good game when even after this amount of play time, you still want to see what’s over the next hill or what you can get from fighting a certain creature (I did see a giant fighting a dragon in the storm coast and had to sneak past the damned things to complete a mission, no way I was taking them on).

Leave a Reply

BRB UK 582: A Tale of Two Kongs

Finally we are, here for you. It's the latest show, with the Podcast crew

Tabletop Tuesday

BRB Weekly Events; Tabletop Tuesday   You may have seen...

Big Red Barrelcast 43: RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman

On this week's episode, Dave, Kev and PacManPolarBear are joined by Yoshifett to blabber on about Philip Seymour Hoffman, Nintendo, and Gears Of War.

BRB UK 470: 12 Inches of Christmas

Here's your first gift while the team are away, let's take a look at this year's best games

BRB Boom 95: LeBron’s Groin Band-Aid

Don't call it a comeback, it's a new episode of the Boom

Element Gaming Palladium Keyboard

Richard reviews a gaming keyboard with an elegant design and pretty lights - What more could you want?

© Big Red Barrel 2011 - 2024