Dragon Age: Inquisition

 PC
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4838 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,277 out of 4838
  2. Mixed: 968 out of 4838
  3. Negative: 1,593 out of 4838
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  1. almox21
    Jul 25, 2015
    3
    THE CONTROLS SUCK! And that's the biggest issue with this game! It's non nonsensical dumbed down controls. Yes the game has some cool **** in it especially playing as a mage and the Dragon Age Keep is a really good **** idea also bringing Hawk back is also really cool. But the controls will ruin this game for you. This is PC! You have done this before Bioware! Dragon Age Origins was a ****THE CONTROLS SUCK! And that's the biggest issue with this game! It's non nonsensical dumbed down controls. Yes the game has some cool **** in it especially playing as a mage and the Dragon Age Keep is a really good **** idea also bringing Hawk back is also really cool. But the controls will ruin this game for you. This is PC! You have done this before Bioware! Dragon Age Origins was a **** masterpiece on PC.
    The graphics of DAI are great for the most part so good job with that. The story is so so! Not too good and not to bad, And the combat has less abilities than in previous titles which sucks. Why couln't you take the strategic combat of Dragon Age Origins, improve the Graphics, make it open world,change the story and add some awesome combat music and that's it. STOP REINVENTING THE COMBAT!    … Expand
  2. absoluterfreak
    May 19, 2015
    6
    I am not sure how to feel about Dragon Age Inquisition. Did I have fun with it? Yes. Do I think it is a good Dragon Age? No.

    The story is bland for any game and extremely disappointing for a Bioware Game. While there are some good ideas and even a few touching scenes, the whole story seems disjointed, without context and, worst of all, without significance. I forgot multiple times what    I am not sure how to feel about Dragon Age Inquisition. Did I have fun with it? Yes. Do I think it is a good Dragon Age? No.

    The story is bland for any game and extremely disappointing for a Bioware Game. While there are some good ideas and even a few touching scenes, the whole story seems disjointed, without context and, worst of all, without significance. I forgot multiple times what exactly was happening or who that person was. You do not get a feeling of epicness like in Origins, or an emotional and personal impact like in Dragon Age 2. It is also short and not very deep. I thought I was about halfway through the main story when the journal told me that the next quest would be the final one.

    The characters are, for the most part, well written, but the relationships do not feel nearly as deep as in both prequels. The romance arc I picked - with Blackwall - was disappointing, the romance was locked in after I flirted twice, and then he barely had anything to say to me, not even the way he would greet me changed, as if nothing had ever happened. Even the main character has no depth - we know almost nothing about the background of the Inquisitor, and he or she never quite develops a personality. Even the Warden managed to be more memorable, and achieved that without even having a voice actor. When Hawke makes a cameo and is instantly more likeable, you notice how bland the Inquisitor really is.

    The feature that you, as the Inquisitor, have freedom over the world and can customize your own castle, is a good one - and does entertain for a while - but cannot replace the depth of story and character, and the lack of both is especially striking for a Bioware game. Plus, any sense of threat or urgency that the story sequences might create vanishes while you are grinding your ass off for the side quests and inquisition missions.

    This leads us to the world. It is too big. The game wants to be Skyrim so bad that it's embarrassing, but doesn't manage to pull it off. You see, there are about 12 regions or so, and most of them are so gigantic that there are plenty of places where absolutely nothing happens. While they are beautiful for the most part, they are also empty and lifeless. Yes, you can loot tons of herbs and minerals and what not, and there are quite many - boring - side quests. But why do the regions look so alike? They are almost all either rocky and rainy, forest-y, or a desert. If you've seen one of the desert regions, you've seen all three of them. Why not use less maps, and instead focus on making them more interesting? We have ONE city, and it is ridiculously tiny - Val Royeaux, not even the size of the Skyhold? What? Instead, you get the same minor quests again and again. Explore map, conquer camps, claim landmarks, collect the **** out of everything. Make note, Bioware: THIS IS BORING. These minor tasks are overwhelming and while you can ignore them for the most part, they make you feel like you are not playing 'right' if you don't do them. Also, if you ignore them completely, there really is not much substance left to the game, since the story is over so quickly.

    Finally, let's talk about the fighting. You now have to keep the mouse button pressed down to keep attacking, which is just about the most stupid design decision I've ever seen. The fights are more tactical than in DA 2 again, but much less than in Origins. Plus, the abilities are not all that great, many are quite useless, and there are no tooltips to help you know what they do in the heat of battle. You will forget many times what the spells in your attack list actually do, and randomly use them in fights to find out. I played on normal and it was indeed normal and occasionally challenging up to level 11 or so, then it got very easy, as in almost playing itself. My Inquisitor could let the others fight on their own and already run around to collect loot or start mining.

    Finally, the technical aspects. I played with every setting on Ultra, and the game does indeed look quite good and runs fluently on a 1 year old PC. At least the landscapes, whereas characters, especially hair, look a bit chunky. I had 3 or so crashes, a few issues where I had to minimize and maximize the window because dialogue choices did not highlight correctly, and regular sound issues in cutscenes, as well as some clipping and graphical issues.

    A summary: Bioware has focused on the wrong aspects in this one. I don't think anyone playing Dragon Age 2 thought to themselves: Man, this is good, but I want it to be more Skyrim. No, because while Skyrim is an entertaining game, what we want from a Bioware RPG is great story, great characters, depth and a sense of epicness. The constant running around in lifeless maps damages the overall atmosphere even more than the small, repeating dungeons of Dragon Age 2. I did have fun playing, but usually only for some time before it started being a drag again. This is the wrong direction for Dragon Age to head into.    … Expand
  3. ireviewthings1
    May 22, 2015
    6
    Inquisition is a solid game for the first 30 hours, I give it that. But I don't quite get how it scored multiple GOTY awards last year. I guess it was just a generally bad year. I had it at a 7 at first by I downgraded it to a 6 while writing.

    The production value of the game is as amazing as you would expect. A RPG on the Frostbite Engine is just fantastic to look at. Dialogues are    Inquisition is a solid game for the first 30 hours, I give it that. But I don't quite get how it scored multiple GOTY awards last year. I guess it was just a generally bad year. I had it at a 7 at first by I downgraded it to a 6 while writing.

    The production value of the game is as amazing as you would expect. A RPG on the Frostbite Engine is just fantastic to look at. Dialogues are fully and very profesionally voiced. I have to say though that the voice acting of the player character (male human at least) is the weakest of all main characters. He sounds like an easy to impress/astound little hipster with no authority or character whatsoever in his voice. Meh.

    The gameplay is very fun.. for the first 30 hours or so. The problem, at least for me, is, it plays like an offline MMO. So you wander around the map constantly picking up herbs hear, ore their, loot hide everywhere. You do this to craft items and such. That's all very good in an mmo but why do I have to do this as the head of an world saving organization? Don't we have some peasents to do that? On the first map you enjoy all these side activites. But as late as map 3 you realize it's the same procedure everywhere you go. They absolutely wen't for quantity over quality so they can claim to have generated 120 hours of "content" (I hate that word).

    The combat is very weak. On PC you have the choice between 3rd person MMO combat and group selction tactical combat. The latter is absolutely pointless. They did not even manage to put in such a zoom level that allows you to overlook even half the battlefield. So you're left with 3rd person combat, wich is boring. Click on an enemy, keep LMB pressed - auto attack, throw in to occasional spell or skill. The combat is one of the weak points in this game wich is baffling.

    I have issues with the world design as well. First of I'm not a big fan of Thedas in general. I find the Dragon Age universe very generic compared to places like the Forgotten Realms, Tamriel or even the Shadowrun or Wasteland universe. Humans are humans, elves live in the woods, dwarfs live in mountains. Yeah. I heard that a million times. But while other games and worlds have something to set them apart, there was nothing in Origins or Inquisition that really excited me to learn more about Thedas. It is the total opposite of the Mass Effect universe to me.

    Another major issue for me is how the game actively forces you to engange in religious motives. It starts out with you being public enemy no.1 and 45 min later you are the "herald of andraste" and the people lay at your feed. I don't have anything agains religious themes in games but I always had the choice to keep that seperate from my character. Not though in Inqiusition and that makes me really uncomfortable.

    I grew up on Baldurs Gate 2. It is my favorite game of all time and as my gaming life has gone on I more and more realize and enjoy that nothing will come close to it. It is still sad to see that it's original makers have somehow no idea how the recapture the essence of their old masterpieces. Bioware is officially beyond their prime.    … Expand
  4. Some1The4Got10
    Apr 24, 2016
    3
    Just like many others have said, this is not the Dragon Age we know and love. This is a single player MMO trying to be Skyrim, with very little meaningful quests, mediocre story and the same formula Bioware uses in every game - the world is on a brink of annihilation and only the chosen one can save everyone. I can forgive bad PC port with lackluster controls, unusable tactical camera andJust like many others have said, this is not the Dragon Age we know and love. This is a single player MMO trying to be Skyrim, with very little meaningful quests, mediocre story and the same formula Bioware uses in every game - the world is on a brink of annihilation and only the chosen one can save everyone. I can forgive bad PC port with lackluster controls, unusable tactical camera and glitchy combat, but the story and pacing are just all over the place and that's too much.… Expand
  5. Schlapatzjenc
    Apr 24, 2015
    6
    Well, the game is not bad for an RPG and not horrible for a Dragon Age. That being said there's much less to it, than you expect after first few hours.

    First of all, the game's world and graphics. Nothing to be mad about, game is really pretty and I loved the detailed characters, though cutscenes are uglier and seem to lag for no apparent reason, even though game runs perfecly smooth    Well, the game is not bad for an RPG and not horrible for a Dragon Age. That being said there's much less to it, than you expect after first few hours.

    First of all, the game's world and graphics. Nothing to be mad about, game is really pretty and I loved the detailed characters, though cutscenes are uglier and seem to lag for no apparent reason, even though game runs perfecly smooth otherwise. The areas in game are MUCH more vast than in the previous installments, though on the other hand they're not exactly filled with many points of interest for exploration. Even the hidden dungeons feel somewhat bland. That being said they're very pretty and well designed and I mean both terrain, buildings and vegetation.

    Sound is definitely fine, voice acting also solid enough to be convincing.

    Gameplay-wise, it plays kind of like DAII mixed with something else. Fights are fast paced, but often repetitive and just based on slinging everything you've got at the enemy until it dies (then again, it's nothing exceptional for an RPG), overally interesting enough, but with not too many different kinds of enemies that would offer a varying experience.
    Boss or sub-boss fights are mostly boring and plagued with game's HORRIBLE leveling system. I tend to to every sidequest possible and it turns out THERE'S ACTUALLY A PROPER ORDER IN WHICH YOU HAVE TO DO THEM. If you don't you will end up like me being level 23 and killing level 15 enemies with one spell in some forsaken location. Or the opposite, level 17 team against 23 dragon, which will. fu*k. you. up. Unless you're running Vivienne which is basically playing the game in godmode.

    Oh and dragon fights are as un-epic as possible. Sure, they have cool sounds and animations, but killing them beyond the first one just doesn't feel like an accomplishment at all (and there's no execution animation). To top it off, while the game's crafting system is pretty neatly done, there's not really much you can use your hard earned materials for. You can never find all the schematics you want, since the drop is random, even if you do find something good, you can never be sure if there isn't something better waiting for you. It's just tempting and exciting on paper, but ultimately unsatisfying in practice.

    Skill trees are fine, though more spells (and more 'interesting' spells) certainly couldn't hurt the devs. Same goes for classes. There just isn't anything that made me say "daaamn I can't wait until I level up my necromancer, so I can get that cool thing and feel powerful". And don't get me started on necro class being weak, same goes for every other kind.

    As for items I got the feeling that there wasn't enough uniquety among them. Slapping purple color on the name and giving it increased stats doesn't make it incredible in my eyes. Then again I liked how various armors fit different races, also the ability to tailor parts of them to my visual needs.

    As for the plot, it's okay. Interesting enough to keep you going, though it sometimes feels like you're getting timeskips. Things just happen too... easily. "Yay, let's join the Inquisitor everyone!" kind of thing. But it isn't bad and the companions feel intriguing (as do most NPC's). It is a tad short and if you've been spending hours on sidequests, there's literally nothing left to do after the main storyline ends.

    Overall, a solid 6, maybe some more. The game is worth buying after some price reductions and I would recommend it, despite of the obvious flaws. It was fun, just not amazing (as expected from BioWare).    … Expand
  6. H3yArn0ld
    Aug 8, 2015
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ok, so to start, yes I made an account solely to review this game but I legitimately hate this game and need to purge some of my rage, also I have the PS3 version but I' not posting on the PS3 page because no one will see and most of my complaints are about the game itself not the system port , but the port is still Very Bad, the PS3 version had a horrible 1st day, the game had rendering issues, clipping issues, dialogue issues, it was terrible, I've seen the other versions have better graphics and that frustrates me because it's obvious this is meant as a tech demo for those consoles, the updates for this have seen the game freeze and crash more easily and frequently on the WAR ROOM MAP screen which is disgraceful, beyond that the "update" has not fixed the numerous framerate issues and freezing bugs but has made the game worse during my 3rd attempt at play, all and all it's obvious that the game is meant as a tech demo for new consoles making the ps3 version unnecessary and painful to play considering now EA has given up on it, now for the game itself, it is shallow, the games story is copy and paste from every fantasy rpg ever, and often steals ideas from other better games, I call this stealing because that i exactly what it is, inspiration implies that you will work the concept into your story meaningfully and make it your own, but this game doesn't, the dragons, while a cool addition and challenge, serve no purpose other than to exist, the recruitment system for random npcs is pointless as you will never see them again and notice no change in faction resources which themselves are pointless and shallow, The game forces you to garner resources and materials for no other reason than, "You might need it" but in all honesty you never do, the strongholds you conquer are useless and are simply camps with stores that sell useless gear considering the crafting system, which Is will admit is extremly deep and well thought out, makes buying weapons pointless seeing as how you will either find the gear from drops or make it yourself, quests are tedious and frustratingly dull, go here kill this, go there find item A give to person B who is dead leading to combat C, over and over again, "RIFT CLOSING" is exactly what I dreaded it to be, kill fade monsters, use hand on rift for buff, kill weakened monster, close rift with boring button press and weak animation "yay", combat requires no strategy because of the actually really competent friendly AI and the "rush you hit you" enemy AI with predictable and abuseable movement and attack patterns, progression is unstable and down right cheap, with you being completely weak and unable to kill any enemy at one level, but one level and bam your unstoppable, there is no skill point distribution anymore, nor any non combat skill trees, but instead, skill trees with "abilities" ripped straight from "babies guide to rpgs" this loss of depth makes combat even more weak it becomes tedious and difficult to feel strong when there is no way to see your base number stats, this games idea of big number means better is idiotic and not bioware should be doing if it still wants to stay relevant, the characters are dull recreations of bioware trope characters, with some given differing sexuality or racial preference, as a way for bioware and EA to get a participation medal from the LGBT community for there "crafting of breakout gay characters" which are just stereotypes or characters who were simply made gay last minute, the game is unforgiving to new players and old fans in its story as those who have not read the entire lore of the dragon age will never understand what is going on and even then it is never explained how the the main "villain" is alive after being slain in a past game beyond "idunno" the ending is an annoying cliffhanger and a set of slideshows with descriptions on our choices as apposed to actually showing us a cutscene of our decision, how this game gets away with a cliffhanger ending is beyond my comprehension. the answers none of the questions left in previous games, and for those who wish to argue that it should be judged as a single story and game, YOU CAN'T, the game relies on it predecesores and references them constantly making this an undoubtable third game in a series, other than that for those who used DA Keep in order to recreate your story, prepare to be met with a insert your decision here option with no real effect on the world of the game. All and all this game is a thrown together mess that was made by EA and EA alone seeing as has Bioware has ceased to care about its creations and only wishes to exist as a way to make money off of dlc and microtransactions. I was extremely hyped for this game and convinced many of my friends to pre order it, I as exstatic when I bought this game, and now I can safely say that this is my most hated game that I have ever played, if you really wish to buy this game, buy it used or rent it EA doesn't deserve a dime.… Expand
  7. MKJ
    Nov 12, 2015
    5
    The first impression is great, but when I play more and more, it starts become dull. I think controls in pc is a little bit complicated and the story is a little dull and I have no feeling when playing the game. I think I enjoyed playing Dragon Age Origins than Inquisition. But good job at the graphics and the effects when in battle, but lack in the story.
  8. tabletop
    Nov 13, 2015
    4
    Dragon Age Origins is one of my 3 favorite franchises of all time. How disappointed I am on this when it became... well.. this game that I don't recognize. The marketing pr for this game is so different from the final product. I pre-ordered this based on what they extensively shown, more fool I am.

    I am not giving this a 0 because at the end of the day it ran smoothly with almost no    Dragon Age Origins is one of my 3 favorite franchises of all time. How disappointed I am on this when it became... well.. this game that I don't recognize. The marketing pr for this game is so different from the final product. I pre-ordered this based on what they extensively shown, more fool I am.

    I am not giving this a 0 because at the end of the day it ran smoothly with almost no problem on my rig.    … Expand
  9. UraniumSlug
    May 16, 2016
    4
    I've about half way through the story line and have done a lot of grinding on the many shallow side quests.

    I bought this game after looking at critic reviews and I'm ashamed of myself for not knowing better. The game is a mindless, shallow attempt at an Action/RPG hybrid. The story is weak and disjointed and doesn't serve to motivate the player to continue. Customisation and skill    I've about half way through the story line and have done a lot of grinding on the many shallow side quests.

    I bought this game after looking at critic reviews and I'm ashamed of myself for not knowing better. The game is a mindless, shallow attempt at an Action/RPG hybrid. The story is weak and disjointed and doesn't serve to motivate the player to continue. Customisation and skill options are limited and dull.

    Hopefully you'll see the critic to user score comparisons and avoid buying this, because in comparison to other third person fantasy titles it falls grossly short.    … Expand
  10. Diegochocho
    Jul 3, 2018
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Me fascino esta entrega de la saga Dragon Age, considero que tiene el mejor protagonista, los mapas son muy hermosos, tiene un gran contenido secundario, y la historia... que puedo decir de lo maravilloso que es, es muy épico tener que formar la Inquisition, y la cantidad de decisiones importantes que ocurre a lo largo del juego. La única queja es la misión final, que me pareció muy corto, pero lo salva mucho la expansión del "Intruso".
    Quiero ya mismo Dragon Age 4.    … Expand
  11. derek_
    Feb 21, 2021
    4
    Simply put, combat in this game is SO TERRIBLE, that its kiling whole game. Literally. Could not force myself suffer from it more than couple of hours, in multiple tries. It's just so ... rigid, constant source of frustration. Big no no, and its pity. With better combat, it would be great game...
  12. Ploppy0
    Oct 17, 2018
    5
    Pros :
    -Graphics are good
    -Some entertaining companion dialogue -Dubs are good -Some event in the main story line Cons : -A world with no consistency -No lore explanation or good sidequest to remind things, with background characters -Dull combat with no strategy, whatever the difficulty -Few classes are fun to play, Mage will all play the same for example. -Terrible side quest    Pros :
    -Graphics are good
    -Some entertaining companion dialogue
    -Dubs are good
    -Some event in the main story line

    Cons :
    -A world with no consistency
    -No lore explanation or good sidequest to remind things, with background characters
    -Dull combat with no strategy, whatever the difficulty
    -Few classes are fun to play, Mage will all play the same for example.
    -Terrible side quest with mmorpg fedex quality that nobody care
    -Boring collecting on maps with marker everywhere
    -Tons of pointless things to do to increase some xp bar that unlock things you don't care, and don't even know what it does
    -Half open world with tedious level design, 4 years after Skyrim it's a shame.
    -Blank NPC and world
    -Disastrous UI to manage equipment, with pointless crafting
    -Another "save the world" quest where you are the hero but still have to do chores.
    -Most NPC made ugly on purpose because of the dev team political agenda
    -Only 2 option(on8) for a male hetero romance

    DA:I is a RPG for people who don't want to play a RPG, the game fail at almost everything this genre should provide. It's not a terrible game, it's average for common users... But it's a bad RPG.

    DA:I is the perfect example of how AAA game and huge prod value can still be meaningless if you don't put some real talent for the writing and the game design.
    You can have the best engine and the best technician your game will still feel like an empty shell.    … Expand
  13. MelkortheKind
    Aug 11, 2018
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have spent 314 hours of my life on this game playing every class and almost all the races (except Qunari). I am a huge fantasy fan and Dragon Age has one of the best lore foundations IMO (their interpretation of magic, dwarven culture, elven history, vast and intricate history of Thedas including the various religions etc. is just amazing!) This being said the game is the one thing it should never have been and that is average. I will list shortly the pros and cons and then give a short conclusion to why this game is heart-breaking.

    Pros:
    + Great lore still there although somewhat hidden or of less importance
    + Voice acting is pretty decent
    + Some weapons and armour looks cool although the variety is poor
    + Skyhold probably the coolest castle in any RPG I have seen although it’s not important in any way.
    + Mounts look cool although not very useful
    + Graphics is good especially the Emerald Graves (but by no means great)
    + Companions are much better than DA2, but not nearly as good as DAO, that being said it is light years better than any other non-Bioware RPG
    +Dragon fights are cool and can be exciting (where is the dragon fight at Skyhold?)

    The Cons
    - One of the most boring combat systems I have ever played, even WoW is better.
    - The ridiculously small number of abilities that are tied to your attributes I mean it has at most 5 active abilities per tree and ~4 passives. WHY?!?
    - Gone are the days of personalizing your character, dexterous warrior, strength rogue, tank mage NO, now you must follow a simple tree. IMO you could just leave your companions to auto level up.
    - The game's balance is broken as an example the arcane knight can kill Hakkon Wintersbreath 1v1 on nightmare with Even Ground, Walk Softly, Rest Easy, and Rub Some Dirt on It trails active. While the warrior and the rogue cannot survive even one hit.
    - Its pacing is of and that negatively effects the story as you are constantly busy with side quests and don't feel the rush to do any main quests (and you must do side quests to complete main quests this ties in with next point)
    - I am a completionist and must finish and area before continuing to the next area and this is really challenging in the beginning (Hinterlands) but as you level it becomes tedious even with trails active.
    -The collectables is irritating to a completionist and the amount of it is just ridiculous and why lock the coolest (dragon decor) behind Multiplayer or DLC.
    -Controls and PC optimization is really bad
    -AI can be infuriating and the tactical screen is useless, the AI do not obey basic commands
    -I feel that a lot of good lore was disregarded for this Mage/Templar war, it’s not bad, but come on, they trampled on the Wardens, making them into scared puppets.
    - It has a bad replayability as your choices are actually inconsequential so the only reason you will replay it is to try different races and classes and even that does not make a big difference as in DAO and then the grinding on top of all this just kills all motivation there was to do it.
    - The DLC’s are average and they feel like they could have been added to the base game (except Trespasser), some areas in the base game (hissing wastes, Storm coast etc.) have no real impact on story just like DLC and are only there to farm for Power and to lengthen the game.
    -Lastly and most damning, who is this game made for, kids? It has sex violence and all the other goodies, but its gameplay is for dummies (it literally has no learning curve), gone are the dark or gritty dialogue options (killing all the elves in DAO as an example) and the story is predicable with no real branching of narratives just one big grind fest.

    In conclusion the third instalment of my favourite fantasy RPG series has truly disappointed me. It is by no means a bad game in fact in 2014 it was probably the best RPG, but that's not saying much when the competition was that bad. I will probably never come back to play this game, which is sad because I have over a 1000 hours in DAO and still play it. Most worrying of all is that recently (2018 I think?) EA announced that they feel that single player games are dying and DA:I is proof of their mentality in 2014 already!! It is a MMORPG in an action-RPG skin. I have no problem with Action RPG's not everyone likes games like Divinity: Original Sin 2, but this game is neither. It tries to be tactical but is not and the “action” is boring. This game has made me worried that all companies will follow this trend of reaching for a wider audience (dumbing down) and creating larger and longer games that feel emptier and more tedious (Shadow of War). Lastly a good game is not measured in the game’s length or size or graphics, but in how emotionally attached you become to the world and its story, characters etc. and in this regard the game fails spectacularly.    … Expand
  14. Justmygaming
    Aug 15, 2018
    7
    While your team probably isn't as memorable as that of Origin's, they aren't downright forgettable in my opinion. It's a good game, with some interesting decisions, my issue with the game is it feels like a slog to get through at times. The sheer amount of basically worthless fetch quests is tiring, and it could take a week or two to complete the game. I recommend only doing side quests toWhile your team probably isn't as memorable as that of Origin's, they aren't downright forgettable in my opinion. It's a good game, with some interesting decisions, my issue with the game is it feels like a slog to get through at times. The sheer amount of basically worthless fetch quests is tiring, and it could take a week or two to complete the game. I recommend only doing side quests to gain power and quests for your companions, other than that it's a waste of time. Some hubs could feel so large that it gets tiring and overwhelming. The villain in this game is the least fleshed out villain in all the Dragon Age Universe, and the ending isn't anything massive, but the DLC does flesh out the story a lot more.… Expand
  15. D45T4N
    Jan 25, 2021
    0
    Mediocre and empty game that plays and feels like grind-based MMO, yet it is single player and classes system is degenerated.
  16. Jakard
    Sep 20, 2020
    4
    If you have played the legendary dragon age origins you will understand why this game can't be rated by more than a 6. The problem is not only in the boring open world or the fetch quests or bad side quests and the game play that reminds an Mmo but withoutr the positives of being online. Dai commits and bioware commit yet again the biggest crime of destroying a legendary fanchice that hadIf you have played the legendary dragon age origins you will understand why this game can't be rated by more than a 6. The problem is not only in the boring open world or the fetch quests or bad side quests and the game play that reminds an Mmo but withoutr the positives of being online. Dai commits and bioware commit yet again the biggest crime of destroying a legendary fanchice that had deep customization many and useful spells and abilities and a lot of skill slotsto implement them and play around with myriad different builds and ways even if you played the game a builds do not exist here. You only have 8 skills lots with 2 or 3 being always taken by 3 must have spells especially if you play on nightmare which you should if you want an rpg experience otherwise rpg is the wrong genre for you. The only 8 skill slot limit do nothing to the game play or the combat other that making it repearive and destroying the possibilities of having characters that are good with different abilities on different situations. The ai tactics that were one of the best things in dragon age 1 and even the bad 2 are removed Co pletetly and now you are left with stupid ai doing nothing right especially not the combos. You can't andthere aren't any good debuffs or buffs since the aspect of healing buffing and debuffing or heavy control speabilities have also been removed to linear spammable boring and bad spells. The bad abilities and the game play chosen make it impossible and boring to play with fiendy fire on which is the way any rpgs should be played by the way. And that is only criticizing the combat. The game offers nothing but click and kill quests boring keep managent and blant open world areas. I don't know how bioware from the legendary kotor Dao me etc has been brought down to this and I can't play only EA for it. You will only like this game if you don't play rpgs in general and haven't played any good ones or if you are an ultra casual gamer playing 1 hour a week. 5th time or more. Dai feels like a… Expand
  17. oakshield
    Dec 10, 2020
    0
    I finally decided to play this after re-playing Origins and 2.

    Well, it's garbage. It's an open world single player MMO full of fetch this and that side questing that add zero to the story. Most areas are optional and have no effect on your progression other than items. You have to press a button to see collectible items on the world all the time, it's an annoying scan and most of the    I finally decided to play this after re-playing Origins and 2.

    Well, it's garbage. It's an open world single player MMO full of fetch this and that side questing that add zero to the story. Most areas are optional and have no effect on your progression other than items.
    You have to press a button to see collectible items on the world all the time, it's an annoying scan and most of the collectible items you won't end up using. Once you figure out how the crafting works, you'll just go for the higher tier ones. Also, crafting breaks the game, you can get overpowered really quick.

    The gameplay is atrocious without mods. There's no tactical aspect to it, just run around, hack/slash/dodge use skills and wait for the cooldown to use them again. Bioware's idea of difficulty is just turning enemies into HP Sponges to make battles take forever at times. You're never in any real danger other than from bad camera, bad movement and useless tactical option. In an open world area enemies will plenty of times just spawn out of no where continuously or de-spawn just as you reach them.
    The areas are just bland "oh here's a desert, here's a jungle, here's a forest, here are the plains" type of business.

    The main story is weak from the start. You're the chosen one just because and your enemy is a recycled generic silly goose from DA2 DLC who disappears through most of the game and just shows up to be beat up. Also his only motivation is evil for evil's sake, which is boring. There's zero connection between what you do in the world and the way the story progresses in terms of enemy strength and adding or reducing challenges in the main missions.

    Character creation is simply cosmetic and barely affects your role-playing. Either human or qunari you're just the same boring inquisitor and your background barely matters other than a couple lines of dialogue here and there. The way you interact with npcs and your companions barely matters and the hidden approval system is just confusing. There's almost no differentiation in the way you'll build your character should you decide to play multiple times, since there are very few useful skills in each tree, you'll end up picking them and forget the useless ones otherwise you're just setting yourself up for long repetitive battles due to the HP sponge nature of enemies.

    There's this thing called the war table that forces you to return to it plenty of times throughout the game to select missions that take real time to complete. It's like the game saying "Ok, you've played enough, go do something else for 30 minutes to 24 hours before you can advance this... fortunately, there are mods.

    The only decent thing is the scope of the dragon fights and the way they're massive. But even then, most are basically the same fight, just slight different weaknesses and powers they'll throw at you.

    This was a waste of time and it destroyed not only the world building done by DA:O and to a much lesser extent DA:2 but it showed clearly that Bioware is on the way out in terms of quality gameplay and storytelling. I won't even get into the whole forced "wokeness" inserted into this.

    I didn't comment on graphics because I don't care for them. Graphics are supposed to be secondary to the story and gameplay, not something you advertise your game on, unless of course you're making a dumb game and you use shiny gimmicks to distract dummies who'll give this a 10. Also, this game is clear proof that so called professional reviewers don't really play the games and are corrupted by perks the companies give them in exchange for a good rating. Always go by the user score, after all they actually play the games and after some time has passed the consensus is always superior to a biased reviewer who drinks the company's kool aid.    … Expand
  18. VVars
    Dec 12, 2020
    6
    The game seems very fun at first, after some time it gets very repetetive though and does not encourage you to explore more of it. The strongest aspect I see is relations with followers. I don't like the mining and crafting though. And the combat system does not seem very excitng.
  19. Defianc4
    Jun 22, 2015
    7
    Dragon Age II with bits and pieces of Origins tacked on, it excels in mediocrity; this game exists as a forced compromise between the prior two games, and feels like it. The resulting experience continues Bioware's long-term, downward slide in quality that began with Dragon Age II. Though an improvement on said predecessor, it can't help but feel like both a slightly better version of DA2,Dragon Age II with bits and pieces of Origins tacked on, it excels in mediocrity; this game exists as a forced compromise between the prior two games, and feels like it. The resulting experience continues Bioware's long-term, downward slide in quality that began with Dragon Age II. Though an improvement on said predecessor, it can't help but feel like both a slightly better version of DA2, a mediocre version of Origins, and more the former than the latter.

    Some glaring issues include: a return of the brawn-over-brains combat system from Dragon Age II, extremely repetitive enemy types, which cannot number more than 10, the repetitive Oblivion gate knock-offs, the endless fetch quests, which actually ruin the pacing of the game by leveling your character up too quickly, the total lack of instruction in regard to the level requirements of each area, and the total uselessness of money through much of the game.

    The ending is also pretty shockingly short; this game isn't a total rush-job, but the content is definitely quite thin and only moderately worth your time.

    The game does, at least, offer some grudging RPG mechanics like the stat-crunching and loot collecting that all rpg fans love and enjoy, and some vestige of the multi-series storylines and Origins characters that players have come to love and expect. The game also thankfully has player commands and a tactical camera, despite being clear afterthoughts.

    It's only worth playing if you've gone through pretty much every other RPG out there.    … Expand
  20. tikend
    Oct 29, 2020
    7
    Weak story compared to previous games, not interesting characters, boring open world gameplay.
  21. virgilivs
    Mar 1, 2017
    4
    One of the most watered down videogames I can think of.
    The explorable world is huge, quests are countless, still...how much of this is actually inspiring or interesting? Probably 5%.
    Also, the client is full of bugs (it just doesn't work on some graphic cards, among the others) and on my high-end computer it takes 5 minutes to start playing, whereas even more modern games are    One of the most watered down videogames I can think of.
    The explorable world is huge, quests are countless, still...how much of this is actually inspiring or interesting? Probably 5%.
    Also, the client is full of bugs (it just doesn't work on some graphic cards, among the others) and on my high-end computer it takes 5 minutes to start playing, whereas even more modern games are performing much better.
    Buy if it's 75% off and you love grinding.    … Expand
  22. yesterdayatnoon
    Jul 19, 2015
    3
    The controls are funky, the game doesn't know if it wants to be a tactical RPG or an action RPG and screws up at being either. Making the game more immediately responsive and permitting multiple simultaneous actions (moving, strafing attacking) would have helped it out. Alternately, the game would be much improved by just pulling out the Baldur's Gate UI and using that to navigate thisThe controls are funky, the game doesn't know if it wants to be a tactical RPG or an action RPG and screws up at being either. Making the game more immediately responsive and permitting multiple simultaneous actions (moving, strafing attacking) would have helped it out. Alternately, the game would be much improved by just pulling out the Baldur's Gate UI and using that to navigate this world. Splitting the difference is a lamentable choice.

    While it looks nice and character customization seems deep at first, the level of fine detail is overwhelmed by some locked in facial forms that push male and female facial structures close enough together that one must actively avoid signaling as the opposite sex. Cutscenes, of which there are few, seem half realized with characters holding their limbs awkwardly and facing in weird directions. The overall feel is very alien as if made by someone only casually familiar with what people look like, or whose only human interaction was with the most gawky and awkward teens the world has produced.

    I'm sure with some heavy modding this game could really turn heads, but as it stands the game doesn't seem very well realized and I'd recommend passing on this game. Normally I'd call a game like this average, but it doesn't pass the basic test of being on the same level as free to play games.    … Expand
  23. iseeall
    Dec 9, 2015
    5
    Another port from console, with bad controls system. You can switch between 3-d person view (World of Warcraft-style) and "tactical" view (Baldur's Gate style) but in the tactical view the camera can't be zoomed out high enough to actually see the enemies. The camera is almost crawling on the ground and can only capture about 1/4 of the range of your spells (when you have a mage selected).Another port from console, with bad controls system. You can switch between 3-d person view (World of Warcraft-style) and "tactical" view (Baldur's Gate style) but in the tactical view the camera can't be zoomed out high enough to actually see the enemies. The camera is almost crawling on the ground and can only capture about 1/4 of the range of your spells (when you have a mage selected). This means that you have to move the camera like crazy to just issue the simplest of orders. Imagine an old man with extremely bad eyesight trying to read a newspaper by holding it 10 cm in front of his eyes and moving the head along each line of text. That's basically how tactical mode plays here. You even see farther away in the 3-d person view. So basically the tactical mode is useless and you need to play console-style, viewing each of the characters from behind. But that's too tedious and it's easier to play just one of them (e.g. your main) and leave everyone else on AI-assist mode. And then it doesn't even feel like a game where you control a group of characters or even as an RPG in general.

    The dialog system is handled in console style as well: the "ring" with short replies which don't always match what the character says after you select that option. What a mess really... This game might be good for console players but definitely not for desktop or RPG players.    … Expand
  24. PEnchan707
    Mar 21, 2017
    6
    Up front I'll tell you now, I thought DA Origins was very good and DA 2 very poor. Also, I'm scoring this game based on its status as a AAA game with the legacy of DA Origins to live up to.

    This game is better than the 2nd and tries to address many of it's faults. It has large and varied locations, many of which are beautiful to behold. The combat has less button mashing and is    Up front I'll tell you now, I thought DA Origins was very good and DA 2 very poor. Also, I'm scoring this game based on its status as a AAA game with the legacy of DA Origins to live up to.

    This game is better than the 2nd and tries to address many of it's faults. It has large and varied locations, many of which are beautiful to behold. The combat has less button mashing and is closer to Origins, most of the characters are more interesting and engaging (though still nothing to shout about) and the plot feels more coherent.

    However, there are many things that are still lacking. As mentioned above, though the characters and story are an improvement over DA2, as a story driven Bioware Rpg, they are still mostly sub-par. Some are cliched, some are shallow, some seem like they come out of a modern day sitcom. The script is uneven, as are their motivations and reactions to events.

    The combat is the main problem though. Increased difficulty changes nothing about enemy variety, tactics or ability use. They simply have crap tons of health, meaning your tactics are exactly the same, just that the battles take longer and end up in a game over screen more often that on easier settings. Worse still, getting you characters to stay still and do what you say is horrible. If you don't turn off their AI they do some terribly stupid things, like running up to shoot people with bows point blank and getting caught in AoE attacks alongside the melee character currently engaging a foe. If you turn off their AI, you have to micro manage them and given that moving around the battle is atrocious due to the awfully fiddly camera and lack off high above view, this is a colossal chore. Worse still, even then they still sometimes ignore your commands. Put a mage and crossbowman on a high vantage point (to get skill tree bonuses) and guess what? They'll get down and move closer to the enemy based on it's movement, or they'll just stop shooting for no reason.

    Enemies are moderately varied, but for a game this big, it wasn't that good. Speaking of big, the areas are very large and give a great sense of adventure, visually speaking, however most of the things to do involve collect items and going to placemarkers, Ubisoft style. It's bland and repetitive.

    The crafting system seems like it had potential but there was very little variety to the properties you give weapons and armour and just getting the resources to do so is tedious.

    I think it's worth mentioning that this game won awards in a particularly weak year for big, AAA games or popular franchises, particularly multi-platform games. Even then, it didn't win a particularly large amount of awards. I feel Alien Isolation (niche), Shadows of Mordor (new franchise), Bayonetta 2 (WiiU exclusive), Dark Souls 2(niche), Divinity Original Sin (kickstarter based turn based strat) and Mario Kart 8 (WiiU excl) were all far better games, and that's just off the top of my head. Some of them still won GOTY awards though, in preference to DA:I, in spite of their disadvantages compared to a mass-appeal, hugely hyped and marketed, multi-plat, 3rd game in a popular series.

    I'm sure they'll make at least one more but I don't feel the need as I think this series has nothing left to offer in its current form and with its current direction. I also think it got inflated scores partly because people were so relieved it wasn't as awful as DA2, but I'm just guessing :)    … Expand
  25. silverwolf42
    Oct 21, 2017
    5
    Bioware seems to have completely forgotten what DA:O made so great and just unleashed a collection playground. While looking gorgeous and having nice music, the characters are blant. I couldn't care less for any of them. How is that possible? The first one managed to have so rich and deep characters, which I loved and worried about.

    DA:I Is just a huge map with icons, running around,    Bioware seems to have completely forgotten what DA:O made so great and just unleashed a collection playground. While looking gorgeous and having nice music, the characters are blant. I couldn't care less for any of them. How is that possible? The first one managed to have so rich and deep characters, which I loved and worried about.

    DA:I Is just a huge map with icons, running around, jumping in fights and that's it.
    No soul.
    at all.    … Expand
  26. Kovasz
    Dec 25, 2019
    5
    I was skipping this title for a long time, as I've heard a lot of negative critics. But now I've just decided to check it out, maybe they've fixed the flaws, I thought, and it's not that bad after all these years.
    Well, the game looked promising at first, and after a few hours in, the world, the characters, the graphics, etc. are looks good, but the actual gameplay itself... they've made    I was skipping this title for a long time, as I've heard a lot of negative critics. But now I've just decided to check it out, maybe they've fixed the flaws, I thought, and it's not that bad after all these years.
    Well, the game looked promising at first, and after a few hours in, the world, the characters, the graphics, etc. are looks good, but the actual gameplay itself... they've made a REALLY simple battle mechanics. The good old tactical mechanism is completly gone (well, not completly, as there is an option for it, but it's 1) useless 2) needles). What you got instead, is an equally simple and bad 3rd person hack-and-slash solution, where all you have to do is keep pulling the trigger to attack and unleash your skills/spells, when they're refilled. That's it. No tactics, no skill based 3rd person action, it feels and plays like a mobile game, really.
    And although everything looks interesting, I'd love to explore the world (there seems to be a LOT to do), I'm just bored by this unchallanging combat and lame looting.
    Also, the levelling is too slow, and when you finally level up, all you get is ONE (1) skill point. Are you kidding me? Some FPS/non RPG games have more RPG elements than this game.

    Bottom line: I really wanted to love this game, as I loved DA:O and also DA2 (yes, it was more simple, but I still liked it), I wanted to play a good fantasy RPG, but this just feels like a mobile-like, single player MMO.    … Expand
  27. GBN4_EAGLE
    Aug 19, 2015
    4
    I really wanted to like this game, the first roughly 10 hours I was thoroughly enjoying it. However, 10-15 hours later that view changed. I began forcing myself to continue, I felt way too overwhelmed by the boring side quests and grind to continue. Myself personally felt like it was never going to end (the context i mean as it dragged on), I just wanted to progress through the story andI really wanted to like this game, the first roughly 10 hours I was thoroughly enjoying it. However, 10-15 hours later that view changed. I began forcing myself to continue, I felt way too overwhelmed by the boring side quests and grind to continue. Myself personally felt like it was never going to end (the context i mean as it dragged on), I just wanted to progress through the story and feel like a hero but that never came. I put the game down because it felt more like a chore than a game.

    I loved DA:O and it kept me drawn in all the way to the end, I've even gone back to play it a few times but DA:I just doesn't cut it.

    I tried coming back to the game several times, to see if I could get into it but each time failed.

    Overall it could have been an amazing game but it sadly fell short.    … Expand
  28. lantan
    Jul 11, 2015
    3
    PC controls are really bad, there is no way to command your companions. It has not good story too. Whoever rate this game with 10 or 100, I can assume they dont not play this game at all, first games were very good but this one is awful.
  29. andrey1990
    Oct 12, 2018
    8
    Too many boring side quest and not a strong ,main story - that was bad. But despite i liked combat system, graphic and beautiful open world. Role playing is good enough too. So without criticism this is quite good game
  30. KnocknWalker
    Jun 24, 2016
    3
    It should have been called lag and bug edition. After playing mass effect 1 to 3, dragon age 1 and 2 on ulti, I can't play inquisition on LOW. It lags like hell and if you lower graphics you get pixelated mess that looks worse than games from 1980s. Than it bugs on intro after character creation you get stuck in area from the intro video, than it white screens before you reach skyhold. AndIt should have been called lag and bug edition. After playing mass effect 1 to 3, dragon age 1 and 2 on ulti, I can't play inquisition on LOW. It lags like hell and if you lower graphics you get pixelated mess that looks worse than games from 1980s. Than it bugs on intro after character creation you get stuck in area from the intro video, than it white screens before you reach skyhold. And there is constant lag and freeze, and so on.
    Preset eyebrows and hair for characters are just plain **** you need to mod those right from the start. Then apparently dialogues have consequences and if you god forbid believe in andraste you can't choose option for do it because it is right, that makes leliana devine and so on. Too many companions that you have to bother about and advisors are actually the most interesting characters that let you skip whole approval mess. If in da1 or 2 you needed to press button constantly to highlight things, here the R is you new always press on button, since it is a "manual auto-attack". Game drags on with hours of wait on war missions, or traveling, or collecting crap. So I don't think you can bother replaying if you choose wrong dialogue. Now companions wtf is that super anoying cole? viviene and sera are just boring/annoying, the idea that sex is easy only appeals to men so quinari companion is also disgusting, in addition to having low intellectual humor. Advisers are only normal ones and they are not companions.
    Voice actors fro protagonist suck big one, it is either English or american accent of a person that just reads text without any emotion, no "female Shepard "on this one for sure. Their voices are too plain too, voice actors need to have nice voice, not common, ask Japanese!    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best PC Game of 2014
1
#1 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
1
#1 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 45
  3. Negative: 0 out of 45
  1. Hyper Magazine
    Feb 9, 2015
    90
    Best Dragon Age so far, hands down. Pity about the naff writing. [Issue#257, p.51]
    Read full review
  2. GameOver.gr
    Jan 22, 2015
    100
    The masters over at Bioware have done it again. This epic journey into the world of Thedas will steal more than 100 hours of your time, hours so full of superb gaming that you'll never forget them.
    Read full review
  3. Eurogamer Portugal
    Jan 14, 2015
    80
    Despite numerous shortcomings, the new BioWare project is undoubtedly worth your attention. One of the best RPGs of 2014.
    Read full review
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