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. Newfr
    Jan 3, 2015
    5
    I'm writing this after i finished DA:I (that took me about 70 hours) and replayed DA2, the game i considered the weakest in series before DA:I. And now i'm not so sure and that's why...
    This game looks amazing. It really does. There is no question about it. Landscapes in DA:I are simple amazing and very different: grim marches, barren deserts (maybe a bit too barren), farmlands, lash    I'm writing this after i finished DA:I (that took me about 70 hours) and replayed DA2, the game i considered the weakest in series before DA:I. And now i'm not so sure and that's why...
    This game looks amazing. It really does. There is no question about it. Landscapes in DA:I are simple amazing and very different: grim marches, barren deserts (maybe a bit too barren), farmlands, lash tropical forests, mountains, frozen lakes and so on. A lot of times i found myself standing on some cliff and just admiring the view. Models are clearly better than in DA2, but i think some (large ones, like dragons) could have i bit more love. Plus corpses usually just vanish into thin air. Thanks to inferior consoles hardware.
    Also i have to mention amazing soundtrack. To be honest last year (2014) was very good for great soundtracks. And DA:I one can easily compete in that regard with any blockbuster movie. There not so much games where i can stuck in main menu just to listen to main theme. Or just sit in tavern to listen to bard songs.
    Now to the sad part. Game mechanics. I have only one word for that: abysmal. This "tactical view" gives you more troubles than helps. Camera angle, camera distance, controls (at least with keyboard and mouse - proper PC controls i have to add) feels like were made to drive you mad in that mode. So i stopped trying to use it after first mission or something like that. Inventory. I remember how much critique DA2 received for limiting inventory not by some mystical slots for the whole party (nope, your super strong buddy warrior can't be a mule now). Or for that "all armor" in one slot thing for anyone except main character. That **** didn't go anywhere guys, it's just get worth. Now everyone have just 8 slots for equipment: 2 for weapons, armor, helm, necklace, belt, 2 rings. Same "answer ring" **** Also i have to mention that i played as a mage in all DA games and with each new iteration mages are less and less fun to play. In DA:O you could summon fire tornado (massive AoE), blizzard, throw balls of fire and so on. And that was your main source of damage. In DA2 spells were less impressive, less of spells overall and more of your damage came from auto attacks. In DA:I there can be literally 2 active spells per magic school (+some passives). Visually not impressive at all. Plus you limited not only by mana, but also by spells cooldowns. So usually you find yourself in situation when after initial barrage with your spells all you abilities are on CD and you can only pew-pew from your staff. So most of the fight you auto attacking waiting for some spell to finish its CD. So much fun...And i'll not be surprised that most damage from mages is actually auto attack damage.
    But the most sad part that DA:I made like a single player MMORPG. There is a story quest-line, but you can't just follow it - you need levels and equipment. And to get that do some MMORPG like quests! Most dull ones. Like get 3 bear paws, 10 goat meat and so on. So there are about 8 story missions that will take you for about 10 hours to complete and about 40+ more hours of this generic "kill 10 rats" side quests. This is the most infuriating thing about DA:I for me. It's a singleplayer game! If i want a MMORPG experience i'll go and play some WoW not something that labelled as a singleplayer RPG.
    Now to the plot. You know, when i finished DA2 for the first time i was sitting before my PC and wandering what new i was told about DA world? And i couldn't answer that question. Whole game was like a spin-off: while your mage saving Ferelden your another mage discovers that power can be abused (who can thought of such thing!). So from DA:I with all that videos about demons, guy what was (probably) in Golden City and so on i was waiting at least something new about dark spawns, demons or Maker lore. Did i get anything of that? Nope. WTF is red lyrium maybe? That thing that played a major role in this game? Nope. The only thing you get is some elven lore.
    So if this game was named like "Inquisition vs evil rats" and have nothing to do with DA i probably rate it as 7/10. But it's the third (forth if we count Awakening) and i have some expectations about it. So it's nothing greater than 5/10.    … Expand
  2. MadPeanut
    Jan 25, 2015
    5
    The best I can give this game is something in the middle. I've waited until I gotten a fair way into the game (over 120hrs). The problem is I've stopped playing it, mostly due to the glitches in the side quests and story. That's frustrating because I've waited for this game and was excited for it for a while. Several months into the release and there are still glitches that are justThe best I can give this game is something in the middle. I've waited until I gotten a fair way into the game (over 120hrs). The problem is I've stopped playing it, mostly due to the glitches in the side quests and story. That's frustrating because I've waited for this game and was excited for it for a while. Several months into the release and there are still glitches that are just really disappointing. If I had to pinpoint one thing wrong with the game is that they made a very basic mistake. It's trying to be too many things to too many people and failing everyone. Loyalist to Origins were let down with DA2 and this was supposed to be the make up for that. As many people have stated this feels like a single player MMORPG. The problem is there are so many loose ends. Fetch and return quests keep popping up even when they're impossible to complete, because after a period of time through the progression of the game you cannot get what you need anymore. Instead of a basic cleanup of those quests and stopping of issuing them they are just abandoned. Plus, many of these little side quests seemingly have no purpose. the game feels massively wide but shallow. There's a lot of shiny little things to distract you but in reality things like crafting lack depth and creativity and ultimately the ceiling isn't very tall. I'm saving these special resources hoping to forge some uber weapon for my character but...I don't know what that will be and I have a feeling I will finish the game before I ever create...whatever uber weapon it is (its not obvious).

    The game is an "open" world of sorts but the problem is you can screw up quests when you do this and to my knowledge many of these glitches have yet to be fixed because you end up doing them unknowingly in the wrong order. The game designer and project managers had a linear path in mind but that's not obvious to players so you drift off that track and find yourself losing hours in the game going to an old save (if you have a ton of versions being saved) to go the way they wanted you to go but didn't tell you. That, in addition to the abandon (meaningless) quests are what makes this frustrating and resulted in me taking a break. Upgrading/repairing the castle is another example. First you have to find the wood cutting areas or quarries that are visually unimpressive (and missable) and only serve to help get some minor upgrades to the castle. Origins with its expansion did a better job (and so did Mass Effect) in making these side things worthwhile even if the mini-games were a tedious pain. there is a judgment portion of the game which again is shallow and can't really tell the value of it.

    There are things I have enjoyed however, most notably the characters banter. At times it can be quite amusing especially with Cole and the variety of characters. I've really enjoyed many aspects to the story and the characters side quests have been really fun and often have an impact based on things you do.

    That's my problem the story is entertaining and the other parts are just a nuisance to move the story along.

    At the end of the day I maintain the opinion that "EA is where good games go to die." Its just proven over and over ad nauseam. Sim City is a shell of what it was. Countless others have joined the same fate. Future games I'll be waiting to order until reviews come out and maybe price drops, hopefully that will result in EA changing how they work on games or result in EA losing sales and selling IP to other studios that will honor the creations better.    … Expand
  3. Whadafug
    Dec 18, 2014
    6
    If you are a fan of Bioware's old RPGs you will likely feel that Dragon Age Inquisition is a stark drop in quality from a studio that prides itself on delivering complex RPG experiences drenched in well-written story experiences where the path the narrative takes is as much an element of the game as the contents of your inventory.

    The harsh truth about Dragon Age Inquisition is that it    If you are a fan of Bioware's old RPGs you will likely feel that Dragon Age Inquisition is a stark drop in quality from a studio that prides itself on delivering complex RPG experiences drenched in well-written story experiences where the path the narrative takes is as much an element of the game as the contents of your inventory.

    The harsh truth about Dragon Age Inquisition is that it tries very hard to appeal to two superficially similar but actually quite distinct groups of gamers...

    On one hand, we have a classic single player RPG experience based on the classics of the genre, most of which came out of Bioware of old. Dragon Age Inquisition attempts to build on those games and deliver something bigger, better, grittier but by doing so merely opens up huge chinks in its armour. Gone are the days where every line of dialogue spoken by your character was a choice you made. Instead, ala the Mass Effect games, players choose a "general feeling" over a specific dialogue choice, with the dialogue options being written to summarise several minutes worth of voice acting from multiple characters. This takes a huge amount of investment out of the game, and often you find yourself regretting certain dialogue choices purely because your character says something your character - in your mind - should never say. Of course the USP being thrown around by Bioware here is that, and whilst the quality may have taken somewhat of a dive towards the bottom of a very, very, very deep mid-ocean trench somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, there is much, much more sitting around listening to poorly written characters arm-chair philosophise about the morality of blowing up an entire town to save the world from an unstoppable army of the undead. Of course, in that scenario there really is no philosophising to be done; when faced with a demonstrably overwhelming soldiers of unkillable zombies and skeletons that would promptly massacre the entire world if given any degree of quarter, the plight of a small town with a handful of poor little villagers is invariably going to fall on deaf ears. Indeed, it is perhaps ironic that the player - who in previous games happily murdered hundreds if not thousands of innocent bystanders through a combination of inaction, ignorance, arrogance, and many other ances - would care or consider this issue as any other than a minor concern.

    Instead, we want gear. We want power. We want to cast giant fireballs out of our faces when we look angry at another monsters on the screen. Of course, we're not allowed to do that. We're allowed to use one of a handful of poorly designed spells that try to hide how poorly designed they are by being novel plays, abstraction if you will, on spells that already existed. In other words, the entire combat system is poorly conceived and poorly implemented, and whilst it does sometimes make for an entertaining few minutes it generally feels clunky, slow-paced, and boring. This is a combination of their being almost no depth to it whatsoever, and it clearly being based on the combat system from World of Warcraft.

    And that's the main problem I have with Dragon Age: Inquisition: it FEELS like it's an MMO. The game is huge. Indeed, it'll take you more time to complete DA: I, even when speed running, than it did to complete Origins and Dragon Age 2 combined. This isn't achieved through depth or meaning however, and instead is achieved by, and for the first time ever in a major single player RPG, making you unlock the next part of the story with a currency called "power". Instead of allowing you to move at your own pace, Bioware make sure that after each major plot event you have to grind power to unlock the next major plot event. At first, this isn't too offensive and you find yourself moving through content quite quickly... but as you progress further and further through the game, Bioware wants more and more power out of you. It is an irrelevant system that has no meaning on the actual game world - NPCs do not "react" to your power as it builds up - and it is quite clearly there to make you play the game at the pace Bioware wants you to play it not because you'll have more fun and just because... well... they say so. Arrogance to the max, if you ask me.

    And that's why I can't of sound mind give this game any more than a 6. It's a pretty good MMO, but there are no other players. It could have been a great single player RPG, but there's too much of an MMO vibe going on for you to really feel immersed. The story is lacklustre, with a preening **** for a main bad guy that is probably the worst villain to come out of Bioware in their entire history making games. Indeed, Dragon Age Inquisition is yet another road marker on Bioware's confidently constructed path to obsoletion.

    If Bioware wish to win back any credibility in the next generation, they're going to have to do something truly special. Personally I think the glory days of the Canadian game maker are long over.    … Expand
  4. Whitespliff
    Dec 25, 2014
    3
    I loved DA:O, played it many times with all the different classes & races.

    I lost interest in DA2 after a few hours, the story didn't captivate me.

    But this, I don't understand the high scores, maybe it's ok on a console but on pc the interface is just crap. I'm hoping they can mod this but it doesn't look very promising :-(
  5. dem5957
    Dec 26, 2014
    4
    The games breath and span is awesome-complete with overall strategy. compelling characters, and then they ruin the whole thing by using the most clunky PC interface in 15 years. My God, I thought I was back to 1995 using w,s,d, a to move-NO MOUSE movement??!!! Who ever took the project in this direction needs to be **** canned immediately! The PC game is obviously because Bio ware didntThe games breath and span is awesome-complete with overall strategy. compelling characters, and then they ruin the whole thing by using the most clunky PC interface in 15 years. My God, I thought I was back to 1995 using w,s,d, a to move-NO MOUSE movement??!!! Who ever took the project in this direction needs to be **** canned immediately! The PC game is obviously because Bio ware didnt want to deal with the backlash of not making a PC franchise in PC mode! It is obviously an after thought! Wow from the one PC gaming company, I used to trust....THIS!… Expand
  6. nnstuovr
    Jan 10, 2015
    5
    This game is average as hell. Only good points are the graphics and the voice acting, neither of those can save it from its mediocrity. Everything else, from the story, dialogue, characters, mediocre as hell combat, open world maps, is so mediocre. DA:I is the pinnacle of mediocrity.
  7. Tartusterre
    Jan 13, 2015
    4
    Nice story, stunning visuals but unfortunately the problems that a lot of PC users are having since they released 2 patches in December, is turning players away from the franchise. The wall of silence that these players are encountering when they ask Bioware/EA for an update on fixes is not a good advertisement for the company or the game.

    Actual gameplay; the removal of Tactics and    Nice story, stunning visuals but unfortunately the problems that a lot of PC users are having since they released 2 patches in December, is turning players away from the franchise. The wall of silence that these players are encountering when they ask Bioware/EA for an update on fixes is not a good advertisement for the company or the game.

    Actual gameplay; the removal of Tactics and the abysmal tactical camera makes combat pathetic in comparison with even DA:2.    … Expand
  8. persi
    Jan 12, 2020
    7
    UPD: I finished the game last year and decided to change this review. While I still think that the story is quite weak, overall I managed to enjoy the game - thanks to a few really interesting characters and side quests in the best traditions of the Dragon Age series.
    Game mechanics are not perfect, but after tweaking the playstyle one could find a balance between tactical moves and    UPD: I finished the game last year and decided to change this review. While I still think that the story is quite weak, overall I managed to enjoy the game - thanks to a few really interesting characters and side quests in the best traditions of the Dragon Age series.
    Game mechanics are not perfect, but after tweaking the playstyle one could find a balance between tactical moves and action shooting.    … Expand
  9. dair
    Mar 14, 2015
    3
    I just finished DA:I and I'm very disappointed. What has BioWare done with this great game series. DA:I is a bad offline MMO with disagreeable and ugly companions (Sera, Vivienne,... seriously wtf). I hope BioWare goes back to their roots and will make again games like Dragon Age Origins or Mass Effect 2.
  10. Topfpflanze
    Mar 14, 2015
    3
    At first, it looks as if DA:I consisted of an enormous world with virtually no boundaries. But it's just illusion. The truth is, the whole landscape is just a narrow hose, as is the story. The non-player characters are ridiculously one dimensional, and there are a few points in the story where you can make decisions. But it's nothing near DAO or DA2 and the story remains colourless andAt first, it looks as if DA:I consisted of an enormous world with virtually no boundaries. But it's just illusion. The truth is, the whole landscape is just a narrow hose, as is the story. The non-player characters are ridiculously one dimensional, and there are a few points in the story where you can make decisions. But it's nothing near DAO or DA2 and the story remains colourless and boring all the time no matter what actual task is to be performed. With my hardware, the graphics can be called average to good, but reminds me of much older games which did better.… Expand
  11. Thothistox
    Mar 1, 2015
    6
    This game is a chimera of bits and pieces that don't really belong together. It lacks creative direction and focus, and there is a jarring gulf between game play and narrative. There are no glaring contradictions in the story telling as in DA2, but the attempts at moral ambiguity are toned down. The story of DAI is better written than that of its predecessor, but it is also much lessThis game is a chimera of bits and pieces that don't really belong together. It lacks creative direction and focus, and there is a jarring gulf between game play and narrative. There are no glaring contradictions in the story telling as in DA2, but the attempts at moral ambiguity are toned down. The story of DAI is better written than that of its predecessor, but it is also much less ambitious. Most of your choices are clear cut and the villain is wafer thin and uninteresting. Your allies are conveniently accommodating, and why they should follow you is left unclear and implausible. Environments are beautiful and huge, but while the devs clearly spent years making them they also clearly spent only a few weeks on the combat which is a lengthy and boring grind with barely any attempts at realism. In fact, combat in DA:I is almost a self-satire. You run at your enemies, spin around, shout at them, blow your horn in their ears, bite them, pour a hot fluid on yourself to inspire yourself to gain stamina, you reel them towards you with a grappling hook, you take damage on your allies' behalf, you fire arrows that put them to sleep, you hit them with your shield or the pommel of your sword, etc., All of it is implausible cartoony nonsense. It's also poorly tested. Consider the charm spell, which allows you to make the spirit of an enemy fight for your side after you've killed them. If you're sealing a rift, your charmed spirit must first die before the next wave spawns, making it useless. The devs seem to have been inspired by Two Worlds 2 because strategy is not well rewarded and enemies are hp sponges, and never feel genuinely dangerous. You can either play the game on an easy setting and control only one character in real time, or you can play on a harder difficulty as I did (hard and nightmare) and micromanage a very long sequence of poorly rewarded combos. Most of the game is spent in combat, so its poor execution really wears down the player. The rest of the game is exploration through beautiful terrain, but usually in pursuit of a collection of unneeded things in exchange for unneeded "points". It's Pac Man in Thedas. Your character collects magic shards, bottles of booze, mosaic pieces, letters from dying soldiers, supply caches, books, quarries, wood stashes, key fragments, metals, herbs, relics, all while destroying lyrium shards, planting flags, activating fade spheres, drawing constellations and other busy work. There is so much of this low quality filler it's easy to forget that this is supposed to be a narrative-based RPG, and it's easy to lose emotional investment in what is going on. The point system is also ultimately disappointing. It would have made much more sense if the final fight was made easier by having a higher point score. For example, if you needed to fight through a number of goons inversely proportional to your power score. But no, the score doesn't really matter.

    The strong side of DA:I is its characters. They are likeable and sometimes even interesting. They have their own individual quests. Unfortunately, the writing for them is a bit inconsistent. It's almost as if Bioware's writers had conflicting visions of what the game should be, and they are constantly trying to obfuscate that confusion with unanswered questions and feigned depth. Some of these writers are talented, but others think that out-of-character shock value is good writing. Consider Leliana's reunion with her friend in the chantry, whom she shortly kills. Whoever wrote that is probably the same person who wrote the idiotic quest from DA2 where Hawke's mother is killed, or who made Udina work for Cerberus in ME3. If you're out of ideas, shock 'em! I say fire this person. There are so many good writers out there you don't need this moron.

    Speaking of writing, why does every dying soldier have the sudden urge to write a letter and spawn a fedex quest? Why are people in Thedas so keen to write diaries that are strewn about in ruins and castles? I actually read most of the codex in DA:I. Honeslty, as codex goes it's not bad, but the bar isn't exactly high in modern RPGs. It's so bland that I can hardly remember any of it.

    Oh and the Canadianisms are tongue in cheek. Sahrnia? Hinterland Who's Who? Riel? Very funny Bioware. Very fecking funny.

    Over all. A pretty game with some strong points and an ocean of filler. 6/10    … Expand
  12. Scoobydooby
    Apr 8, 2015
    4
    Let me start by saying this review is coming from a hardcore gamer. I've played DA:O and DA2.. completed both games, along with many other RPG, ARPG, MMO, you name it. I play on PC, I laugh at the idea of ever playing on a console again unless its an NHL or Mortal Kombat game, and have a rig and a battlestation of a life long PC gamer.
    Now that this is out of the way, the game.
    I    Let me start by saying this review is coming from a hardcore gamer. I've played DA:O and DA2.. completed both games, along with many other RPG, ARPG, MMO, you name it. I play on PC, I laugh at the idea of ever playing on a console again unless its an NHL or Mortal Kombat game, and have a rig and a battlestation of a life long PC gamer.
    Now that this is out of the way, the game.
    I preordered this game. After watching youtube videos of the PC version,I thought to myself, "Bioware are really gonna blow the doors off with this game being that its been so long since DA2 was released".

    Well, the game is really a middle of the road game. Its okay. Its not terrible, its not amazing, its not really bad, and its not really great. Its average.
    As I mentioned, I preordered this game, and played it for a couple weeks after it released. After that, I have not loaded it up since. Not once. That right there should say a lot coming from someone like myself who plays games and can spend hours playing a game that they like. Not once, and not only that, I can't even see myself every loading it up again.

    On PC, this game was neglected for sure.. I can totally see how its been made for consoles, and honestly, as much as I have a problem with this, I still think that I could play the game happily despite of it. What grinds me though is that they (bioware/EA) blatently stated that the PC version was designed specifically for the PC gamer.

    What a load of complete bull$hit. Nothing but crap to get pc gamers to open their wallets and spend $60 for a game that truly is not worth it.

    The Environments and graphics are top notch. This to me is one of the only things that this game did really and truly great. The engine really works great and although the performance is not as optimized as it could be, the game really looks beautiful. Full marks to them on this part.
    Animations too are done well. not incredible, but definitely good.

    Some of the banter between characters and the members of your team that you meet are also humorous and keeps it light. This to me is what Dragon Age is really all about. Commanding your squad, exploring together and playing off of each member's skills to complete objectives and grow in power, influence and skill.

    Once you get past the above, the grim reality of this game really punches you in the face, hard.
    If you are someone who played the previous versions, its tough to gauge at first why you don't care about Inquisition the way you did for Origins and DA2.. but then over time you realize why.

    Its because the game really has no soul. It may have the looks, but like finding a partner to get married to and spend your life with, looks are only a fraction of the larger, more important whole. It lacks that feeling that inspires you to explore and play more.. fight more.. proceed further into the story.

    The combat is simply not fun. I don't WANT to get into another fight, because fights are tedious and repetitive. AI is stupid, so you're constantly having to worry about your squad doing dumb **** instead of what you're doing. Times that by 3 and its a mess.
    Tactical Camera - I don't even know wtf they were thinking honestly. Does anyone use it? I think it would actually be better if they removed it entirely, because its almost added into the game forcefully as it doesn't really gel with the way the game plays otherwise, which is much more like skyrim than dragon age.

    Add to that the fact that the skill tree and tactical menu are either noobed down immensely or removed entirely. Tactics menu? Gone. Widdled down to almost nothing. I can only imagine that featuring this was "not cost effective" and would only serve to "alienate more casual players", so they just removed it. Yes, I'm assuming this is why, but I also don't think my assumption is very far off. Skill tree? Totally uninspiring.

    Then you have the big expansive world that they've provided. Only problem is that once they created the game world, they had an "oh $hit" moment when they realized that now they had to fill it with content. Oops!
    Well, lets just fill it will meaningless fetch quests to gather xyz for the sole purpose of? That's right, there is no purpose. If I wanted to play an MMO, I would. What I wanted was a true successor to Dragon Age.. this game is not that.

    I haven't even gotten into the story, which as cliched as it is, still shows moments of potential.. but sadly, its not long enough, nor is it immersive enough to save the rest of the game from itself.

    Truly saddening this game is to me. I want to like it, but I don't want to play it. It tortures me, and yet I'd rather choose to not even think about it and just play something that actually provides enjoyment.
    I gave the game 4/10 because I know that there are talented designers that have worked on it, and they deserve credit for making it look nice.
    Unfortunately, this does not make a game great. :(    … Expand
  13. ici_chacal
    Dec 21, 2014
    5
    This game is so disapointing for me in terms of performance. This is so bad consol port that is almost not playable on PC. I hope they will fix it becouse now it makes me more problems than fun.
  14. PaKr
    Apr 12, 2015
    3
    The worst Bioware game ever. Will never buy another Bioware game without first trying either pirate,demo or friends version.
    Cons:
    1) Horrible controls and camera in both tactical and action modes 2) Weak story. Played as mage and the whole prologue was absurd. 3) Bugs on nVidia notebook cards 4) Bad level lock system for items 5) Even less mage skills that in DA2 6) Terrible Origin    The worst Bioware game ever. Will never buy another Bioware game without first trying either pirate,demo or friends version.
    Cons:
    1) Horrible controls and camera in both tactical and action modes
    2) Weak story. Played as mage and the whole prologue was absurd.
    3) Bugs on nVidia notebook cards
    4) Bad level lock system for items
    5) Even less mage skills that in DA2
    6) Terrible Origin policy with region lock text language
    7) Bad voice over. At least for my head/voice combination.
    8) Side quests are to simple and flat
    Pro:
    1) Crafting mechanism. Ability to combine different materials.
    2) Idea of War Counsel.

    Reached level 10, cleared first area and deleted. It's simply unplayable.    … Expand
  15. rush357753
    Jan 11, 2015
    2
    Seems like a great solid game that would easily be in my favorites but it is loaded with too many problems on PC right now. Cut scenes framerate is lowered and locked at 30 FPS, problems connecting with servers, (although playable) less than ideal framerate and FPS reliability all around. And of course my favorite issue, it has bad resource utilization problems. It maxes out CPU constantlySeems like a great solid game that would easily be in my favorites but it is loaded with too many problems on PC right now. Cut scenes framerate is lowered and locked at 30 FPS, problems connecting with servers, (although playable) less than ideal framerate and FPS reliability all around. And of course my favorite issue, it has bad resource utilization problems. It maxes out CPU constantly even though it shouldn't, and although I'm not affected by the RAM problem, many people are having Memory leaks with this game on top of it. I would recommend this game 10/10 on console, do not buy for PC until problems are addressed.… Expand
  16. Smilingcookie
    Mar 26, 2015
    4
    The PC version of this game just feels wrong. First-off, it feels too much like an offline MMO. Go kill 5 of this, go collect 5 of that, ... It feels like work instead of fun. The controls are impossible to get right with mouse and keyboard and tactical mode is extremely confusing and frustrating. This makes me not want to keep playing. Graphics are very impressive although I don't likeThe PC version of this game just feels wrong. First-off, it feels too much like an offline MMO. Go kill 5 of this, go collect 5 of that, ... It feels like work instead of fun. The controls are impossible to get right with mouse and keyboard and tactical mode is extremely confusing and frustrating. This makes me not want to keep playing. Graphics are very impressive although I don't like some design choices. I can believe that there would be a good story and good parts to this game, but the interface and the MMO feel make me give up before I get to the good parts.… Expand
  17. segi
    May 28, 2015
    1
    Candy crush saga arrives to rpg thanks to EA and Bioware.

    Again a Ripper alien trying to destroy the world. Again a hero that have to save the world. Origins grey history ruined on Dragon Age 2 and stabbed on Inquisition.

    Really disappointed with this game. Really sad.
  18. Knurrli
    Dec 28, 2014
    0
    The controls are just horrible. Simply could not play over an hour. I payed 60 euro for this and now can not play it properly. Why in hell was this changed completely to annoy the players of DAO and DA2. This was really a horrible mistake, which I can not undo anymore.
  19. Valarian25
    Jan 14, 2015
    4
    Dragon Age : Inquisition

    Poor Combat - Button mash meet Right click Horrible Optimization - "smooth 30 fps" in all cutscenes and thats a feature btw. many nvidia driver issues. Boring Characters First things first... Am a white straight gamer.. that`s really a Nazi Zombie as far as reputation goes these days and this game will remind you plenty that this game is not made for making    Dragon Age : Inquisition

    Poor Combat - Button mash meet Right click
    Horrible Optimization - "smooth 30 fps" in all cutscenes and thats a feature btw. many nvidia driver issues.
    Boring Characters

    First things first... Am a white straight gamer.. that`s really a Nazi Zombie as far as reputation goes these days and this game will remind you plenty that this game is not made for making me have a fun and evil male power fantasy.

    The Sosial Justice Theme is there , for each 2 scouts for the inquisition you meet one of them is gay and you WILL be told about it. Its not too much in your face but it can get a bit tokenism and annoying.

    Its ofcourse issues with companions yelling out but its low and tolerable.
    The main problem is that the companions are so dull you dont really care who they sleep with and all the women look like men anyway so u wont really be thrilled about any form of romance. And that will be fine since there is only one straight woman to romance in the game.

    Combat is also boring and the plot is a 30 fps blur that i couldnt care less about after just a few hours.

    The quests are straight from a mmo, kill 10 goats for meat. and about as epic as a trip to wallmart

    This is basicly Dragon Age 2.5 , a bit better plot, a bit less bisexual, allot more dissapointment.

    Enviroments however looks great. and thats basicly the only thing i feel they did right

    Take my advice, save your money for Witcher 3    … Expand
  20. nargs
    Dec 22, 2014
    1
    Really disappointing. I just could not play this this kind of port. Holding mouse button to change camera angle? Close combat fighting? TACTICAL view? really? Half of the play you have to fight camera. I love this how now they call "tactical view", but it is just awful. Go around with wasd? I have not even seen this kind of control. And you are just too zoomed in to see the whole battleReally disappointing. I just could not play this this kind of port. Holding mouse button to change camera angle? Close combat fighting? TACTICAL view? really? Half of the play you have to fight camera. I love this how now they call "tactical view", but it is just awful. Go around with wasd? I have not even seen this kind of control. And you are just too zoomed in to see the whole battle normally. I could just go on and on about how terrible is this port. I consider this as not playable.… Expand
  21. noxp
    Jan 8, 2015
    1
    I think EA executives have no conscience. When they are realized their MMO Blackfoot was a complete failure they decided to sell it as single playing RPG.
    So it is like this: all quests outside main line is in worst traditions of korean/chinese MMO, huge maps with respawning mobs which drop useless stuff, dialogue options is just illusion of choice, they are all same phrase said in other    I think EA executives have no conscience. When they are realized their MMO Blackfoot was a complete failure they decided to sell it as single playing RPG.
    So it is like this: all quests outside main line is in worst traditions of korean/chinese MMO, huge maps with respawning mobs which drop useless stuff, dialogue options is just illusion of choice, they are all same phrase said in other words. The only real choice you can made is romance options, but i think any japanese visual novel is is a way better in that aspect.
    This is one of the worst games ever made, waste of money and time.    … Expand
  22. rego
    Jan 11, 2015
    5
    For the most part the game feels like a compromised mix of Origins and DA2. Unfortunately it doesn’t possess the strengths of either.
    PROS:
    1. Best looking RPG this side of Witcher 2. And I don’t over exaggerate. The look of DA:I is absolutely stunning. Beautiful landscapes, pretty good looking characters if only to highlight slightly stiff facial animation. Still, if only for the Fallow    For the most part the game feels like a compromised mix of Origins and DA2. Unfortunately it doesn’t possess the strengths of either.
    PROS:
    1. Best looking RPG this side of Witcher 2. And I don’t over exaggerate. The look of DA:I is absolutely stunning. Beautiful landscapes, pretty good looking characters if only to highlight slightly stiff facial animation. Still, if only for the Fallow Mire location, which the artists have absolutely bloody nailed with the spooky atmosphere, undead, rain and lighting, crooked trees, lonely castle and a massive moon in the background. Game looks very pretty indeed, I can’t state this enough.
    2. Strategic Map quests. Some get executed immediately, some take time and you have to allocate your advisors to perform it. That’s interesting, makes you care how you allocate your resources. This can lead to an new open area in a locale which you can revisit or a small quest.

    CONS:
    1. Inventory menu is only just better than Skyrim and Fallout - a scroll down list to accommodate for the armless console players. HA! But serious, it feels rather annoying. Your characters to appear on the side and are updated with the new look but the available and the items already being worn are all dumped in the same list.
    2. The story is quite irrelevant. By that I mean I have always felt quite safe, there is very little danger and loss in the sense of making the right decision. There is rarely a moment when you find yourself biting your nails to trying to salvage a situation selecting from bad and worse options. Everything is only gained and built up, troops join and life is going all peachy but I can’t emotionally invest enough to care. Sadly this makes it rather boring.
    3. The characters are not very interesting, although there is a great potential and they do appear diverse there’s hardly an emotional connection to any of them. Group banter is quite fun though.
    4. Combat, although a massive improvement from DA2 is still nowhere as good as Origins. Tactical camera feels very consoles oriented, limited, annoying and evidently rarely used by the community, which makes it pretty much useless. This is a big letdown by the devs.
    5. No options of setting up attack chain behavior like in Origins (ie if Boss is Weak Then do this) for your party. That was an absolutely fun feature to play with. And sadly, as mentioned above, Tactical mode is more annoying that is of any real use and absolutely cannot replace any Origins combat mechanics.
    6. NPCs spawn sometimes right before you, this kinda kills the atmosphere and immersion. AI sometimes is pretty dumb and just sit there watching you kill their buddies and only respond if you attack them.
    7. Loot is mostly not guarded and too plentiful I found. No one cares that you take anything and there is very little sense of value to items in general. Enemy NPCs may or may not hang around in the area but overall it feels more of a chore to pick up stuff rather than a treasure hunt. On my second character play though I spent as little as possible on loot which is a pretty sad thing to say for an RPG. This might be my own preference but I would like to see a different balance to the weapons and armor. I didn’t have any attachment to any items really since you can bet that in no less than 5 minutes you can get a better one so why bother attaching arms and leggings or improving the weapon with hits etc. It’s not that you don’t get the “Rare” items it’s that there is very little purpose in spending time looking after your inventory and lovingly upgrading your stuff since after spending time you may get a similar specced item in a few minutes, rare stuff included.
    8. Stuff to do, quests and such. Lots! Sounds like it should be a good thing right. Well, it really should, but it’s not. It’s more of a grind in this case. Go over the same map over and over and collect 20 of these things and 20 of those. Effort/Reward in this case is nothing to be excited about. Strategic map quests, again, feel exciting at first but the rewards you get is another item which you sell for a few cents. Feels like there is very little value in doing those.

    In conclusion – DA:I is not really a bad game if you look at it without the Origins baggage., which, sadly, a lot of players have. It’s just not a very good one. An absolutely awesome game like Origins sets the standard high, too high for DA:I unfortunately. It could have been a great game but it feels bloated with meaningless stuff, over saturated with quests and loot collection, dumbed down combat system and strangely for Bioware (again? DA2) un-immersive story. There is nothing really you can take at the end of the day and feel like an achievement. It’s not the items, it’s not the story, nor the characters, nor the decisions, it’s… really nothing. The only thing I could recommend this is to see the graphics which are pretty damn goo    … Expand
  23. Schuback
    Sep 19, 2015
    4
    Ok Dragon Age... What happened to you? What are you trying to do?!! This franchise needs serious help. You think Dragon Age II was as bad as it could get, well think again. In my honest opinion, Dragon Age: Inquisition is worse than Dragon Age II.

    The story is very weak and lame, lacking any suspense or twist. You just couldn't care less about it as you play. NPCs have nothing good to    Ok Dragon Age... What happened to you? What are you trying to do?!! This franchise needs serious help. You think Dragon Age II was as bad as it could get, well think again. In my honest opinion, Dragon Age: Inquisition is worse than Dragon Age II.

    The story is very weak and lame, lacking any suspense or twist. You just couldn't care less about it as you play. NPCs have nothing good to say and there's absolutely no epic moments/cutscene in this game whatsoever. And omgg the characters!!!! How?? The characters are sooo stereotypical and extremely annoying. It's like Bioware is trying to force down their political correctness down your throat. Instead of being creative, Bioware opt to make the cast as multicultural as possible which makes the whole thing cheesy and utterly cringe worthy. You have the token Hispanic Josephine with the forced stereotypical Mexican accent; the African Vivienne, bald and exaggerated lips; one lesbian (Sera); and one gay (Dorian); a big brute 'American tough guy-badass attitude' Iron Bull; and a tough woman Cassandra to appease the feminists. These are unoriginal, poorly designed characters. Please, stop...

    Another example of how they try to force it on the players, is they actually went as far as making one companion mission revolving around the issue of his homosexuality. Come on!! Look, I've got nothing against homosexuality. So we don't care about your sexuality, stop being insecure and sharing it with the rest of the world!! Bioware, if you want homosexuality/minority/females to be accepted, then you'll have to make the characters respectable. What you're doing is perpetuating their insecurities and making them vulnerable!!

    Let's talk about the open-world aspect. Guys, you can't create a large map to explore and call it an open-world. You'll need a world you can interact with and to be able to immerse yourself in it. DAI fails to do this. The locations are very bland, and there's nothing to do!!! Not one side activity. Wtf??

    I play on the highest setting, graphics looks washed out for some reason. It looks generic but I suppose it's an improvement over DAII. Combat mechanic, nothing to write home about. Better played on a controller. Romance is poorly implemented. And the game just feels rushed. It excels in nothing.

    Overall, I'm so disappointed. It's Dragon Age.. I expected so much more. I didn't enjoy my time playing it and therefore can't recommend this game to anyone unless you're really bored and have nothing else to play. Bioware, please you'll need to step it up. I'm so worried about the upcoming Mass Effect.. Please don't mess that up like you did with DAI and that Mass Effect 3 ending.    … Expand
  24. winsenken
    Dec 14, 2014
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Positive
    -Massive environment, unlike Dragon Age 2, no more recycle environment which is a good point.
    -A lot of new features such as crafting feature
    -Stunning graphic, beautifully designed environment. I can see Bioware learnt from the previous mistake.
    -Interesting characters, I am glad to see Hawke's return. Wish to have a DLC so I can play Hawke again.
    -War table feature sounds good

    Negative
    -Constant lagging and high frame rate even in high end machine. After the patching, the issue is still unresolved. Disappointed.
    -Lack of facial expression animation, in fact, I prefer the graphic in Dragon Age 2. The characters look so unreal.
    -Bugs, a lot of bugs. and crushing
    -Unnecessary item pick up animation. Dragon age 2 did just fine.
    -Combat is bad, real bad. In Dragon Age 2, the combat is very smooth. When I use a rogue, pressing "Attack" button and my character will automatically seek for nearby enemies. In Dragon Age Inquisition, the character has to be very close in order to hit the enemies. Most of the time I just hit the air. It's very frustrating.
    -The skills animation is boring, Dragon Age 2, again, did a better job on this.
    -No autoattack, seriously Bioware??
    -Too much grinding. Most of the time is used to pick up the herb, shard, running around to put landmark like an idiot. I prefer more combats instead of picking up herbs.
    -Unnecessary romance locked choice. Why can't a male Inquisitor romance with Cullen or Blackwall? Why can't a female romance with Dorian???

    Overall: I wouldn't even play this game if it is not about its story.    … Expand
  25. whitepawn
    Jan 13, 2015
    6
    If you're looking for something comparable to DA:O or the good side of DA II, you will not find it here. The graphics are fantastic. The water is, indeed, grand. But once again we see a later incarnation of a decent franchise degraded behind the window dressing of good graphics.

    They copied Skyrim in many respects. Respawns in outdoor areas. Gathering...complete with an animation    If you're looking for something comparable to DA:O or the good side of DA II, you will not find it here. The graphics are fantastic. The water is, indeed, grand. But once again we see a later incarnation of a decent franchise degraded behind the window dressing of good graphics.

    They copied Skyrim in many respects. Respawns in outdoor areas. Gathering...complete with an animation for every single picked flower and mined ore. I personally find Skyrim boring without an audiobook playing, and DA contraindicates reading a book while playing. Skyrim has no plot, so, it works. As such, in DA:I I find myself bored out in the explorer zones. Think of an overly fat fantasy novel with too much purple prose to wade through...

    The plot is looser knit, not as good as it could be. The ending is quite "meh".

    Most of the outdoor zones qualify as filler, leaving most completionist types huddled in a fetal position on the floor...twitching.

    The romances are interesting. The companions are interesting. But not enough focus rests on either. Like Bioware's focus was "off" somehow for this one.

    The big CONs.
    --Multiplayer impacts single player in obvious ways. (Actions/hotbar limited to 7, no ability to switch weapons in battle.)
    --Dumbing down.
    --NO Tactics (what is there is actually a joke)
    --Your tank will follow your toon around, dragging her aggro with her...this is the "embedded" tactic. So prepare to have the Dragon or giant demon stepping on your rogue, rogue players.
    --Clunky mouse and keyboard controls
    --Clunky combat with whacked auto soft targeting that cannot be toggled on/off.
    --Your Inquisitor is forced to dress like a cheap 1970s villian whenever she is at home, prepare to have your eyes bleed.

    The bubble wrap generation wins again with this game. Sad but true.    … Expand
  26. johnnybgood8
    Dec 10, 2014
    5
    1.Graphic- is just totally average. Witcher 2 has better graphic and I don't want to talk about Witcher 3 yet.
    2. Dialogue- average/bad. Voice acting nowhere near witcher. They could improve that.
    3. Story-ok.
    4. Camera on PC is bad and combat is slugish.
    5. Optimisation- hope for the patches.
  27. Game_Addict
    Feb 14, 2016
    3
    I've wanted to play this for a while, but because of the reviews I've seen I waited until I could buy it on sale (just got it for £6), and sadly I don't even think it was for buying at all. The devs have really screwed this up.

    The controls with a mouse and keyboard are terrible, and combined with a poor camera view even just moving to where you want to go feels chore. The game stutters    I've wanted to play this for a while, but because of the reviews I've seen I waited until I could buy it on sale (just got it for £6), and sadly I don't even think it was for buying at all. The devs have really screwed this up.

    The controls with a mouse and keyboard are terrible, and combined with a poor camera view even just moving to where you want to go feels chore. The game stutters a lot even though I have turned the graphics down way below the automatic 'optimised' settings - in fact the benchmark shows minimum frame rates dropping to single figures whether I set everything to max or drop everything to low in graphics settings.

    I haven't completed the game yet but the story so far is boring, the gameplay is tedious, the combat doesn't have any real strategy.

    Considering what an awesome game the original Dragon Age was, I can't understand how the devs have ended up releasing something as bad as this. DA2 and DA:O were decent sequels but this is terrible - Bioware need to take a step back and think about what makes a game enjoyable.    … Expand
  28. GamesBeatAll
    Jan 4, 2015
    6
    I loved both DA 1 & 2 so had high hopes for 3. All I can say is "it's ok". The story lacks any real depth, the combat is - sorry yawn, what was I saying? Ooops I dozed off. The characters are equally dull, even those from previous DA games like Varric lack any appeal this time around. I have played it through to the end, and completed most side missions and collectibles, expecting it toI loved both DA 1 & 2 so had high hopes for 3. All I can say is "it's ok". The story lacks any real depth, the combat is - sorry yawn, what was I saying? Ooops I dozed off. The characters are equally dull, even those from previous DA games like Varric lack any appeal this time around. I have played it through to the end, and completed most side missions and collectibles, expecting it to "get better" any minute now - sadly it never did. I just didn't feel invested in the story or characters this time. This game did not get me watching the clock at work to see how long until I could get home and play. It feels like the developers got lazy, or bored and just fleshed out a weak story with a mass of dull side quests. Yeah it does have it's moments now and then, one or two - but overall, I'm disappointed.… Expand
  29. Cbear24
    Jan 15, 2015
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Hey I hear you like padding to the extent you are too busy tapping those nodes, which is completely point to even remotely worry about the planet going to **** ! play through, oppose to orgins which you could discover the richness of the other races, because the thought of wandering grabbing shards, and slow mounts makes you wonder if ch. walking into water suicide might be the answer.… Expand
  30. isopod666
    Jan 31, 2015
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really felt compelled to write a review for Dragon Age Inquisition (PC version). Since I have played the game, did a lot of side quests and spent almost about 110 hours on the game, I can form a good and detailled opinion about the game. In advance of my conclusion: I am very surprised about the so-called 'reviews' of professional reviewers of several sites that gave the game at least a 8 or a 9 or higher. Metacritic, mostly on behalf of the target audience itself: the gamers, shows the opposite in their remarks and feeling towards the game, a game that has been hyped till today. Further proof that those professional reviewers are not as independent as they claim!

    Graphics
    Problably the best aspect of the game. The Frostbite engine doesn't disappoint and gives a very nice touch at the graphics. Whether it concerns in game action or in game movies, it's very nice to the eye. The diversity of landscapes makes it beautiful and diverse. However a point of criticism: some environments are to similar to each other and could have been more varied. The wooded environment maps however are very beautiful and done tastefully.

    Gameplay
    What in my mind should make the difference for a game, especially a RPG game, is the gameplay. Inquisition is very disappointing on this matter. What Dragon Age Origins made fantastic, disappoints heavy with Inquisition. The combat system is, especially for PC gamers (!), Too much console oriented. The so called 'overall camera' we knew from Origins adds little and often doesn't work properly and irritates me very much. Bioware hasn't learned from the mistakes of Dragon Age II and should have listened better to the fans. What I have most against the gameplay are the ridiculous many bugs in the game, making it almost impossible to play. This is completyle unacceptable. How can such a big and hyped game with so many bugs can be released? I find this really incredible bad. Bioware's will was that the game had to lie in the stores before the holiday's. Monetary gains above a tested and quality proofed game? I realy think so. Thank you Bioware. In the about 110 hours I've played the game it definitely crashed 2 times or more per hour, despite patches. Here is a list of the major errors in the game (the small errors put aside!): many crashes by programming errors; 'allowing' me to play the game on low while my PC can handle high or ultra. Quests and NPCs that disappear; making me restoring a previous save and losing hours in the process. The use of PC resources; no game uses so many resources, even at low, making it the game very slow (like movies) and absolutely ridiculous consumption of CPU, GPU, RAM. This is not only frustrating, but this is so annoying that I have several times doubted to through in the towel. Therefore I have played the game on pure character; the 110 hours of playing time to prove this.....

    Quests
    The main storyline is okay, without going too much in detail and spoilers of course. However, it feels not credible at some time and place, some things are a bit too wordy. For instance, the maps are very large, sometimes too large in my opinion. I haven't seen the beautiful build-up and diversity that defines Origins. The "atmosphere" that radiates Origins, are almost absent in Inquistion. The overall quests miss the tension Origins entails; like The Deep Roads storyline I found really fantastic. Also Inquisition misses a good and solid build-up in the story line. SPOILER AHEAD: an important 'piece' in the game is Skyhold. Skyhold hardly has a real role in the game. It looks nice and grand, but customizing adds little. Also at the end of the game, which I expected that Skyhold would play a vital and central role, is very disappointing. Bioware could and should have more out of this. SPOILER AHEAD: also The War Room adds little to the game in my opinion. There are way too many small and meaningless quests and the link with the main storyline is at times too thin, making its 'quests' a matter of mouse clicks to get resources, influence, etc. The time to invest in these "quests" are regarding real hours and minutes, thereby making the game almost unbearably long and tiring. What I find positive to the game and important to mention is Dragon Age Keep. Dragon Age Keep is actually a tool to put together the events of Origins and Dragon Age II. Good thinking and well done Bioware. The different events and outcomes in the previous two games making this tool a very nice addition. This makes the game a lot more varied. Well done!

    Final conclusion
    Despite the good intentions, Dragon Age Inquisition disappoints very much. On quite a few points this actually had not been necessary. The game that was hyped too much destroyes itself in many and unnecessary ways. Despite some interesting quests, the main story line doesn't captivates and the many bugs making playing the game almost impossible. Hopefully Bioware learns from its mistakes for the future to come........    … 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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