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7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2975 Ratings

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  1. May 17, 2015
    0
    Boring. That's the word I was looking for. Boring. I have no idea what happened to the creative minds at Bioware, but based on this game I would say they all got canned.

    Dragon Age series is one of those that has it's fanboys among the gaming community as well as the professional reviewers. However, only one of the groups is getting paid for their praise. As for me, I got this game
    Boring. That's the word I was looking for. Boring. I have no idea what happened to the creative minds at Bioware, but based on this game I would say they all got canned.

    Dragon Age series is one of those that has it's fanboys among the gaming community as well as the professional reviewers. However, only one of the groups is getting paid for their praise. As for me, I got this game (finally) from PSN sales as I really didn't like Dragon Age 2 enough to invest in the next incarnation. First one was brilliant, though, I have to admit that much.

    So what is wrong with DA:I? A lot. Being a solo RPG, the story is remarkably uninspired, which leads the player to repeatedly ask themselves "Why am I doing this?".

    Secondly, the quests, and game world for that matter, are designed to emulate and MMORPG, namely vanilla WoW. That is, Step1: Get quest, Step2: Collect materials, Step3: ???, Step4: (Don't) Profit. This leads the player to repeatedly ask themselves "Why am I doing this?".

    Thirdly, the battle system is, for the lack of a better adjective, broken. You can basically cruise through the whole game by pressing R2. What makes it further infuriating is that the tactical view is just absolutely useless. If you loved the battle in the first Dragon Age, don't get your hopes up. The battle system in DA:I leads the player to repeatedly ask themselves "Why am I doing this?".

    Fourthly, have the times in RPG gaming really changed so much that character development is equal to ordering large fries with a happy meal? You cannot distribute any attribute points, and the only thing that "improves" the characters are better weapons and armor, as skill points are only spent on new combat abilities. As seen above, you only need one button in any battle, which leads the player to repeatedly ask themselves "Why am I doing this?".

    Final verdict: This game is a sandbox for killing time. It's an MMO that tries to be an RPG or vice versa, while failing to be either.

    Can we just pull the plug on Bioware already and let Player 2 take a shot at using the jaws of life on the dead RPG scene in next-gen gaming?
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  2. Dec 21, 2014
    0
    Laughably abysmal game developed by the corpse of Bioware, which was revivified by EA aka Satan. That this crap-heap of a game has so many positive reviews and has won awards proves that the video game review industry is a wholly owned subsidiary of the game development industry, and the latter has its lackeys employed in falsifying user reviews.

    If you want a terrible single-player MMO
    Laughably abysmal game developed by the corpse of Bioware, which was revivified by EA aka Satan. That this crap-heap of a game has so many positive reviews and has won awards proves that the video game review industry is a wholly owned subsidiary of the game development industry, and the latter has its lackeys employed in falsifying user reviews.

    If you want a terrible single-player MMO designed by the B team from Blizzard, if you want endless fetch quests with crafting materials for rewards, if you want largely ineffective skills that hit like a wet noodle, if you want a game so dumbed down that it used a group of cocker spaniels as a focus group, if you want a game with no healing, if you want a single-player game balanced for an MMO grind wherein every MOB takes a year to kill, if you want to continue after dying in the middle of a dungeon with your whole party having 1 HP, if you want to support the continued desecration of the Bioware legacy at the hands of gaming's greatest mediocrity, then you might want to get Dragon Turd Inquisition. Then again, you probably won't like it unless you have brain damage, like the persons who developed this POS.
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  3. Dec 4, 2014
    2
    I agree with Ace99. This game is very disappointing and is not Dragon Age. It's more like a LOTR, Skyrim and Diablo 3 mutation. Seems like they decided to go to a bigger open world and it just does not work. The story is boring, the quests are redundant, the companions have no personality except for maybe Dorian, Sera and Iron bull but you really don't care about any of them like youI agree with Ace99. This game is very disappointing and is not Dragon Age. It's more like a LOTR, Skyrim and Diablo 3 mutation. Seems like they decided to go to a bigger open world and it just does not work. The story is boring, the quests are redundant, the companions have no personality except for maybe Dorian, Sera and Iron bull but you really don't care about any of them like you did in DA:O. I'm playing on a PS3 and the graphics are horrible. The characters all look too shiny. Controls go wonky at times like you hit one button for a spell and the map comes up. I've had the game crash about 3 times. There's something wrong with the sound as well, voices are speaking when the NPC is dead, music plays then stops, etc. I've also just killed a deer and he amazingly rose from the dead and is standing in a forest all frozen! The crafting system is tedious and too big, the character creation process is tedious and too big as well plus the hairstyles are horrible - how many bald headed and short-short haircuts do we have to have?? There's about 5 or so. Tactics system is gone and the new tactics camera is ridiculous. I do not want to have to micromanage every fight I have. There are no dwarves to speak of, no children, no funny townspeople, and even my hero is boring. I'm playing a mage and the way the camera angle is I can't even see what my companions are doing because I'm so far away. I can't even tell if my spells are hitting. If I get closer the enemies all come after me. The AI is inconsistent - I'll wipe out one group with ease then get killed with one-hit by an archer in the next! Very frustrating. The spells are weak, there are no healing spells, and potions can only be gotten in camps. You also have to run all over the place to find your companions in a town - not like Origins where they were all in your camp. This game is a perfect example of bigger is not always better. Expand
  4. Dec 19, 2014
    1
    Bioware is dead, all hail the new King of Role Playing Games - Electronic Arts.
    Everybody knows that they sold their soul to the Devil and Dragon Age Inqusition is the perfect creation of this union. Its sad how low Bioware has fallen, they are the new Mcdonalds of Rpg.
  5. Dec 4, 2014
    4
    I thought I would like this in the beginning...but after 10 hours or so, it just fizzled out and got bored. I started to see that the negative reviews here were correct. I would say pass on buying this game.
  6. Nov 20, 2014
    0
    Pure Bioware junk ...
    - nonexistant evil path (no real choice and consequences)
    - no direct way to increase character attributes, party covers all skills early on and skill checks are a joke - hence you can do everything everywhere without giving a single thought about your chars and their builds (this is a huge letdown imo) - story and NPC actions/reactions contradict each other too
    Pure Bioware junk ...
    - nonexistant evil path (no real choice and consequences)
    - no direct way to increase character attributes, party covers all skills early on and skill checks are a joke - hence you can do everything everywhere without giving a single thought about your chars and their builds (this is a huge letdown imo)
    - story and NPC actions/reactions contradict each other too often, NPCs feel lifeless (daily routines and interaction between them is much worse than in Skyrim and the Gothics)
    - too few towns/settlements, not much live in them (he compared it to all the stories/NPC banter unfolding in front of your eyes when visiting a Skyrim settlement)
    - tactical battles cumbersome because of the low maximum zoom level, but there are no tactics except for some combo abilities anyway (like: one char freezes an opponent, the other hits him for huge damage bonus)
    - nearly no planning involved in fights, the most you can expect are fights where you have to kill some conjurer first before you can handle the summoned demon, nearly everything else is mindless button mashing and levelgrinding. (dunno what difficulty lvl he was playing at)
    - party member deaths are not a problem at all as long as at least one party member survives, they just play dead, you know, after all this is an RPG *larpedylarp*
    - strategic map nearly without meaningful decisions, just another huge grind
    - the wilderness/rural areas are full of MMO fetch quests and retarded treasure hunts (press button to follow marker or sth like that), side quests in general are subpar (he didn't mention the stronghold and companion quests, maybe they are an exception?)
    - lore is presented in a very unimmersive way through sterile codex menus (I remember that being a problem in DA:O too)
    - game doesn't reward exploration because you just have to get near something interesting to get codex entries and quest triggers fired, after a while you just ignore the noise
    - side content dialogues are often badly written (sometimes too silly or just uninteresting)
    - the removal of a healing skill tree for mages really kills combat tactics, kind of moot since the game is incredibly easy even on the hardest of difficulty settings
    - Underpinnings of new world engine still have signs of classic Bioware flaws ... you can jump up mountains in the Hinterlands, but in town .. you have to FAST TRAVEL IN THE SAME ZONE TO GO UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS
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  7. Nov 23, 2014
    0
    If you expect a Dragon Age, do not buy this game. If you expect a Skyrim, do not buy this game. If you expect a typical BioWare game, do not buy this game. If you expect a good RPG, do not buy this game.
  8. Nov 19, 2014
    4
    To be fair... I didn't make it very far in the game, and from what I was seeing the story line could have been redeeming, but there were too many details that just couldn't be overlooked while still enjoying the game for its story line. If i listed all my complaints I would need more than 5000 words and no one wants to read all that, so here are the main reasons why you should wait to playTo be fair... I didn't make it very far in the game, and from what I was seeing the story line could have been redeeming, but there were too many details that just couldn't be overlooked while still enjoying the game for its story line. If i listed all my complaints I would need more than 5000 words and no one wants to read all that, so here are the main reasons why you should wait to play this game, if you ever decide to play
    1) Looting is a struggle because you have to stand right over bodies to loot and you have to use right click for the use key... which is difficult and frustrating key for that
    2) The graphics are seriously lacking for a game of its time... maybe if this was 2005 I wouldnt notice the glaring amounts of sheen on characters hair and the lack of finese.
    3) The combat... similar to the story line... is on a track. You just spam skills and left click (left click to attack is also really obnoxious) and you'll win. I was on normal so if you really want it to be hard you can kite around on harder settings and enjoy the auto-lock combat style.
    4) This IS NOT A FREE ROAM GAME... Contrary to what was advertised this game is very much so on a track and you play through it quest by quest... exploring has no real purpose and there's nothing pretty to go see because the graphics kind of blow.
    5) Your character responds when you don't want him to and will say too much or not enough, you aren't even in control for the dialog at all times,
    6) I was going to stop at five but this really is an obnoxious quality that I cant leave out: the music is terrible. I have only heard one combat song so far and it plays outside of combat too! The undertone is too loud and it drowns out the rest of the sounds. There is no stable equalization! Its so frustrating to listen to this game.
    Bonus: you are always running... shift is too hard to program as a run feature now and they already gave you jump so what more do you need.
    Okay so here's the only reason I played it as long as I did: no invisible walls. That right there is amazing. If my character could feasibly do something with jump i was able to get there. Which was awesome! I feel like if they put that much thought into the rest of the games design we would be experiencing next gen. **** here fellas.
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  9. Nov 19, 2014
    1
    Pinnacle of stupidity in story-writing department. What happened to BioWare, did they fired all the writers and now programmers and managers write dialogues and plan the story? Or is it some EA conspiracy to make RPGs as dumb as they can to annihilate the genre? Or is it just gamers and reviewers became so simpleminded these days that such story in RPG leaves a place for 80+ review score?Pinnacle of stupidity in story-writing department. What happened to BioWare, did they fired all the writers and now programmers and managers write dialogues and plan the story? Or is it some EA conspiracy to make RPGs as dumb as they can to annihilate the genre? Or is it just gamers and reviewers became so simpleminded these days that such story in RPG leaves a place for 80+ review score? Hey, BioWare - hire some writers for next game please, and preferably older than 6 y.o. for story to be a little more complex than just "Evil appeared - go kill it!"... Expand
  10. Nov 18, 2014
    1
    I can't believe I payed full price for this. I feel so deceived.

    The gameplay is klunky and substantially worse than in Dragon Age 2. It is like playing an MMO or something, you hold down the trigger and mash buttons, while the AI takes over the companions. There really is no need to even fight, you might as well just let the AI completely take over. It is so unbelievably boring. The
    I can't believe I payed full price for this. I feel so deceived.

    The gameplay is klunky and substantially worse than in Dragon Age 2. It is like playing an MMO or something, you hold down the trigger and mash buttons, while the AI takes over the companions. There really is no need to even fight, you might as well just let the AI completely take over. It is so unbelievably boring. The tactical combat from past games is completely non-existant. The new tactical mode for consoles is broken and completely unusable. Characters are completely boring and the writing is the worst in any Bioware game to date. This game is even worse than ME3 or DA2! They probably spent more time on "sexytime" romance options for Iron Bull than on actual gameplay. -____-

    I was a huge Bioware fan for many years, but I have come to the realization that Bioware is dead and has been replaced by EAWare. This is the last EAWare game I will ever buy, I am done with them.
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  11. Nov 22, 2014
    0
    ps4 ........loved it untill 10 hours in when it crashed and corrupted my game this game is broken beware the game is bug filled and at times unplayable my first and last dragon age game
  12. Jun 22, 2020
    1
    Первая часть классика, вторая часть была слабой, но третья часть оказалась... Просто неоптимизированным говном, из-за которого играть даже нормально невозможно. Играю причём на PS 4 Pro. Думал, что после PS 3 тоже с горой багов, здесь будет лучше или хотя бы чуть меньше. Но нихрена подобного.

    1) Я помню первые загрузки локации Скайхолд. Просто дичайше низкий фреймрейт, даже меню с
    Первая часть классика, вторая часть была слабой, но третья часть оказалась... Просто неоптимизированным говном, из-за которого играть даже нормально невозможно. Играю причём на PS 4 Pro. Думал, что после PS 3 тоже с горой багов, здесь будет лучше или хотя бы чуть меньше. Но нихрена подобного.

    1) Я помню первые загрузки локации Скайхолд. Просто дичайше низкий фреймрейт, даже меню с дикими тормозами вызывалось.
    2) Сейчас, наверно, будет главная проблема этого издания. Значится... Дело в том, что после смерти у меня обнуляется весь уровень, пропадает вся броня, оружие, пропадает всё заработанное ранее. Мне приходится перемещаться в Скайхолд, чтоб у меня всё восстановилось. Вы серьёзно, как такое вообще можно было допустить?
    3) Такая же проблема, как во втором пункте, но теперь связанная с загрузками из игры. Вы серьёзно? Я теперь не могу даже нормально между сохранениями переходить, чтоб у меня такого говна не было.
    4) Как же это просто охренительно, когда твои напарники падают сквозь текстуры. Я просто не могу.
    5) Про наличие баланса на игре на кошмаре вовсе забыли. Когда для перехода на 14 уровень тебе надо 17,5к опыта, а тебе за противника выпадает лишь 10. Как прокачиваться - чёрт знает, если все противники либо слабые и дают мало опыта, либо сильные и убивают тебя.

    Так, а что там с сюжетом спросите? Ну ничего не могу сказать. так как на пять часов сюжетных квестов приходится десятки гринда, десятки однообразных побочных квестов/заданий/точек интереса.

    Как этому можно было поставить десяток я вообще без понятия. наверно, люди не играли в игру, либо полностью довольны её техническим состоянием. Лично я, покупал её за рублей 370 по акции. Больше за неё отдавать не готов. Спасибо.
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  13. Aug 2, 2017
    0
    I love the series however, the game stoped working after several weeks of play on my PS3 and wouldn't load. I contacted electronic arts and ps store who told me I couldn't have a refund even though the game doesn't work. What a rip off! No time for this. I also have a ps4 and could have played it on there but if course you have to buy the game a second time to do this. Another rip off.I love the series however, the game stoped working after several weeks of play on my PS3 and wouldn't load. I contacted electronic arts and ps store who told me I couldn't have a refund even though the game doesn't work. What a rip off! No time for this. I also have a ps4 and could have played it on there but if course you have to buy the game a second time to do this. Another rip off. Customer relations very poor. Wouldn't recommend. Buy a game that works instead. Expand
  14. Feb 13, 2019
    3
    Nice looking game, but it's an SJW's wet dream.
    Imagine children playing it.... (m rated be damned) too much subversive SJWism. It's one thing to have women leaders. It's another to remove all men. The game felt like a grinder profile. We already have a Caitlin Jenner. We don't need it in our games
  15. Jan 10, 2015
    1
    I'm Big fan of RPG, i love Dragon Age 1, i really like Dragon Age 2, but this... i really don't have idea why this game is so bad. I try to play it, but i cant try more than 5 hours. It is just terrible, no story, no game-play... just nothing. I also don't believe in all this negative reviews, so i have try it by myself. But believe me, this game is not worth trying. I play only by XBOXI'm Big fan of RPG, i love Dragon Age 1, i really like Dragon Age 2, but this... i really don't have idea why this game is so bad. I try to play it, but i cant try more than 5 hours. It is just terrible, no story, no game-play... just nothing. I also don't believe in all this negative reviews, so i have try it by myself. But believe me, this game is not worth trying. I play only by XBOX pad, so my review is not determined by controling (it is ok). This 5 hours i play this game, feels like playing very poor MMORPG... Expand
  16. Jan 16, 2015
    2
    Contender for most overrated game of the last 20 years. This game is just not good. Nothing about it is good. Its not a good rpg, it is not a good adventure game, it has no character whatsoever, and is the most boring experience I have had in a very long time. It is so boring, that I stopped playing around 20 hours in, left it for a month, came back and could only stand to play 4 hoursContender for most overrated game of the last 20 years. This game is just not good. Nothing about it is good. Its not a good rpg, it is not a good adventure game, it has no character whatsoever, and is the most boring experience I have had in a very long time. It is so boring, that I stopped playing around 20 hours in, left it for a month, came back and could only stand to play 4 hours before quitting again. I really want to like this game but it has no redeeming qualities. It is a adventure MMO with very light rpg elements thrown in just to be able to label it an RPG. Customization is narrow and the story... oh my god the boring story and worthless characters. Imagine the worst MMO you ever played, with forgettable characters, cheap fetch quests over and over, meaningless plot development, and classes with "I win" buttons. That is DA:I to the letter. Even graphics, which are supposed to be incredible are ugly except maybe the environment. I hate the shiny finish everything has but I will let that go. The worst part of this game is gameplay. DA:I forces you into a story that you cannot really influence. You play it their way or you are SOL. For instance, in the winter palace, they actually put a timer on you to finish the quest when all I wanted to do was kill everyone in the palace. I actually wanted the assassins to win because I hated the other side. Do you have a choice in the matter? Nope. This is why it does not feel like an RPG. Nothing you do matters regardless of choice and the entire plot is very linear despite trying to fool you with a plethora of side quests and large psuedo-open maps. You either do as you are told or you lose. Back to gameplay, Mages and Warriors are poorly balanced. Mages can beat the entire game on any difficulty with 1 button (maybe 2 in case of emergency). Same with warriors. Rogues are absolutely attrocious because of all the melee AOE enemies in the game and their lack of survivability. Their only choice is to be archer which is fine to stay alive but they are so weak that they cant do anything on their own. Enemies get stuck while getting attacked, and so do your allies. You allies do not follow commands when told to do so. There is no strategy at all in this game. Crafting is worthless so far (25 hours in and the stuff i found is much better than anything I can craft). The loot system sucks the big one.

    I have nothing good to say about this game except that it works and does not crash very much. I wish I could get a full refund.
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  17. Jan 12, 2015
    4
    Yes, it's a good game but it's not a game of the year. I'm really upset by graphics and clunky gameplay. I thought it would be something like AC graphics but I really have an impression to play an unfinished MMO game. It's a pity for the next gen. Guys, you should all work together, you have a good scenario, so work with people like CRYTEK to have some good graphics.
    Combat system is
    Yes, it's a good game but it's not a game of the year. I'm really upset by graphics and clunky gameplay. I thought it would be something like AC graphics but I really have an impression to play an unfinished MMO game. It's a pity for the next gen. Guys, you should all work together, you have a good scenario, so work with people like CRYTEK to have some good graphics.
    Combat system is just BAD, no interest in tactic mode...
    So 6/10 it is...
    It's pleasant to walk around and discover new things... I did never play Dragon Age before so it's a little bit difficult to find how it works the first time. A more detailed notice/help would be appreciable.
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  18. Jan 6, 2015
    2
    The Good

    • Voice Acting isn't too bad and improved from DAO The Bad • The dialogue is beyond cliche • Horrible AI (i.e. they're dumb as mud) obviously not improved from the last 2 games • Camera controls could use some work • Forgettable recruit characters and end boss • The hair cuts of varnish wood are back as well as the dopey facial expressions like they're all on
    The Good

    • Voice Acting isn't too bad and improved from DAO

    The Bad

    • The dialogue is beyond cliche

    • Horrible AI (i.e. they're dumb as mud) obviously not improved from the last 2 games

    • Camera controls could use some work

    • Forgettable recruit characters and end boss

    • The hair cuts of varnish wood are back as well as the dopey facial expressions like they're all on drugs

    • Graphics look like something from 2007 Someone should tell Bioware this is 2015

    • Pacing is horrible it gets better after about 20 hours sort of like Final Fantasy 13 but that's not really a strong suit

    • Multiplayer is like Dead Space 2 multiplayer in that it's boring and forgettable.

    • Quests are MMO type quests once again not a strong suit especially for a single player game

    • Bugs, bugs and oh yeah bugs. You'll need to keep a few saves. This is a beta, not a release. Don't listen to what they say - the quality of this game is late alpha or early beta quality at best.

    Conclusion: I wouldn't pay full price for this It will come down in price shortly so wait
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  19. Jan 9, 2015
    3
    I felt like this game should have been much less linear. It became a grindy collect influence and experience game that in the end game mattered not one bit. All the side sub quests and sub plots you do on the war table dont matter at all ...bioware said it would have decisions that matter and i would laugh that notion out of the room. The ending is horribly plain they didnt learn anythingI felt like this game should have been much less linear. It became a grindy collect influence and experience game that in the end game mattered not one bit. All the side sub quests and sub plots you do on the war table dont matter at all ...bioware said it would have decisions that matter and i would laugh that notion out of the room. The ending is horribly plain they didnt learn anything from mass effect 3 it seems. The fighting mechanics were decent but i also miss the over the top spells like lightning storm or inferno. The dragon age keep was a great idea to keep the continuity of the story together. The boss battles?seemed oddly lacking in difficulty. I spent 135 hours on the game and felt cheated that i didnt even get to learn about what my npc characters or agents or my decisions did after the game was beaten. I mean did the mythal elves leave or teach their fellow elves? What happened in orlais other than you choose who the ruler was? What about the vints your attacking throughout half the game? Whats the effect on the killing of all the dragons in the local area? I'm of the opinion the main game should have been longer with more actual game play and less war table crap that didnt matter as time filler...lastly ill just say this if your expecting a rich immersive story like baldurs gate...you wont get it.... a storyline at captivating as ff7 ...nope...... the next story to keep you plodding along in the dragon age world...yes you'll find that. For the first next gen rpg on ps4, xbox one and so on... i was disappointed in the end after spending so much time in a decent but not great game Expand
  20. Jul 16, 2016
    1
    I hope a lot of people got fired for this piece of unplayable piece of garbage. I don’t know if the fault lies with the designers, some arrogant, egocentric producer or executive, or if this was a design-by-committee that just checked off the boxes—dwarves without beards, check; glowing green goo; check—on the the way to launching undiluted trash. It doesn’t matter to me, the buyer of yourI hope a lot of people got fired for this piece of unplayable piece of garbage. I don’t know if the fault lies with the designers, some arrogant, egocentric producer or executive, or if this was a design-by-committee that just checked off the boxes—dwarves without beards, check; glowing green goo; check—on the the way to launching undiluted trash. It doesn’t matter to me, the buyer of your products—although I use that term loosely, because I will never buy one of your so-called products again.

    This is not an open world game and I have contacted the Federal Trade Commission to alert them of the fact that Electronic Arts is engaging in false advertising regarding this product. The character creator is adequate and the classes available are feasible, but as soon as you begin the game and are put on a bloody unilineal rail it becomes obvious that this not an open world game, this is not something you can explore and enjoy at your leisure, going your own way and doing your own thing, creating your own story with your own character.

    The essence of open world games is freedom to go where you want and do as you please. This is a crappy, bog standard 3D action-adventure game with some RPG elements that some soulless corporate executive decided to call an Open World game after Grand Theft Auto made a billion dollars. But you can’t just call a hamburger a steak and demand reviewers and gamers and players eat it like a steak. This is not a steak. This is a disgusting, rotten hamburger made up of entrails and snouts and filth vacuumed up off of the slaughterhouse floor. It’s a disgusting fast food hot dog made by an absolutely ill-managed and persistently incompetent game company, Electronic Arts.

    This is also brainless, mindless trash written and designed by people who hate fantasy, do not understand swords & sorcery, do not apparently even like or play open world games, and if you met them in person are probably overgrown hipster man-children without a clue. This conception is a bowel movement, the byproduct of a lifeless, corporate nine-to-fiver hack who thinks beard-less dwarves and glowing green goo is somehow innovating the fantasy genre. It’s not.

    Anyone involved in designing, producing and approving this farce should never be given a multi-million budget to make a creative product ever again. That is not an indictment of the programmers, artists, sound designers, voice actors or anyone else. But the creative, production and management team must be held accountable for their blathering incompetence. At the end of the day, I’m glad I only spent $10 to buy this game used at Wal-Mart, a serious lapse in judgment I will never make again.

    This so-called game is a crime against humanity and the perpetrators of this malfeasance and fraud belong in prison.
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  21. Jan 23, 2015
    1
    Are you kidding? I'm wondering if Bioware is paying people to review this game, or if these five star reviews from people are those who've never played the previous games, and enjoy choppy dialogue, pointless quests and a whole lotta cheese.

    I bought this game a bit worried, after the first bits of gameplay were revealed, none of it focused on the story. Then...seeing some negatively
    Are you kidding? I'm wondering if Bioware is paying people to review this game, or if these five star reviews from people are those who've never played the previous games, and enjoy choppy dialogue, pointless quests and a whole lotta cheese.

    I bought this game a bit worried, after the first bits of gameplay were revealed, none of it focused on the story. Then...seeing some negatively scored reviews on here(though surprisingly few) got me even more nervous.... Rightly so.

    When I first started playing. I was so excited. The game was beautiful. And despite having to restart twice, because my Dragon Age Keep wouldn't load right, and then 20 times after just to make sure I liked my character's face, I was still psyched to play.

    However, in the opening scenes I could already see issues. The dialogue was clunky, odd and unnatural; though I quickly ignored it. There was a bit of that in Dragon Age 2, and I still managed to love that game. But ...wait... were the characters....lip-syncing?

    I'm sorry, but in all the other games, it has never been so off and so distracting. I believe I could've done a better job at matching the words to their lips half the time, and I'm total bs with editing!

    Still, I kept at it. The main plot was just intriguing enough, though I had to ignore the "Oh! There goes our lord and savior the Herald" and other unending cheese-fests within the dialogue to enjoy it. I believed it would get better.

    Eventually I played about 25 hours, and realized I was going nowhere. I had just gotten to the part where I can increase my relationship with my characters, and the dialogue with them was the most awkward, unnatural dialogue, I've ever heard in a video game. Let's just say...if you were interested in romancing a character before... You won't be now.

    But even if you decide to not romance a character, and even if you decide to not do the pointless(get me 5 of this herb, deliver this letter, tell this person that person is dead)quests of which there are an unending amount, there's still the fact that, as you go, the main quest gets weaker and weaker.

    I could seriously write a book on how disappointed I am...but honestly, this game isn't even worth it. You can dress up crap in the prettiest box, with ribbons and bows and bells and whistles...but the fact is...it's still crap.

    Here are some things to keep in mind before purchasing this game:

    -The tactical system is worthless. ...I actually enjoyed DA2 combat better than DAO despite popular opinion, because I also love action game combat. But this one, was a horrid "abomination" of the two(hehe). Ah! And I heard it's downright awful on the PC, so if you're a PC gamer, I would check that out.

    -The dialogue will seem weird, clunky, stupid, and might cause rage attacks. Also, if you are romancing a character, it will probably seem odd or even just plain creepy at times. If you want to have a relationship with any character, you just have to get used to it. The only love interest character that seemed to mostly avoid bad writing was Dorian(although I haven't played all of the romances to completion)

    -Silence. And get used to it. There's almost 0 party banter now. I never realized how much I enjoyed it, too.

    -Herald on high(this needs to be a point on it's on). Now this seems like it would be cool, but when your companions/strangers/enemies, revere you for being a God, for doing, pretty much NOTHING, but being the Inquisition's puppet....it get's pretty old.

    -The character is not you. And there's nothing you can do to make her feel like you.
    First of all, I have a problem with voicing characters that you want to be "The Player". In Hawke's case(from DA2), it made sense. We were playing Hawke, not ourselves. In this game, not so much. It's supposed to be me...and most of the time, I wouldn't say things with the inflection or tone that this character says them.
    Second of all, none of your dialogue choices make her a different character. You are the same either way. The Herald: Nice or mean. But judg-er of all. There was a moment were I felt unbridled hatred for "myself", when she sat on her throne(not kidding) and tells her men(in a condescending voice) either to kill the person you're judging or banish him or throw him in prison for the rest of his life. I wanted to cut off my own head!

    But besides all this: The fact that Bioware's writing has gone to hell, poor/AI reliant combat layout, mindless busywork that's only enjoyable until you realized you spent 10 hours doing things that got you no cool cutscenes and no interesting dialogue, pretty much every "new" thing that advertized works poorly or with difficulty if at all(aka crafting, horses, modifying armor), not to mention the ridiculous amount of glitches...

    I can say...the music was pretty, the graphics were amazing, and the game shows a lot of grandeur that may appeal to some's ego.

    But nothing saves bad writing. Nothing.

    I'll think twice before purchasing my next Bioware title.
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  22. Dec 16, 2014
    3
    The worst part of the game is the terrible pacing in the story.

    Your character is inexplicably tossed into the leadership roll of the last hope for Thedas without any reason or rhyme. The filler "quests". Collect this, collect that, collect those stones to open three colour doors. Yeah, that makes me mad. That makes me really mad, Bioware. Instead of giving us time-killing nothings
    The worst part of the game is the terrible pacing in the story.

    Your character is inexplicably tossed into the leadership roll of the last hope for Thedas without any reason or rhyme.

    The filler "quests". Collect this, collect that, collect those stones to open three colour doors. Yeah, that makes me mad. That makes me really mad, Bioware. Instead of giving us time-killing nothings to compete with juggernauts like Skyrim why don't you give us a competent storyline; something you haven't done since Mass Effect 2?

    The one saving grace are the interesting characters that kept making come back and playing, they made me "FEEL" something.

    Why, oh why, are there game-breaking bugs and crashes in this AAA game? What the hell do you think you're doing releasing a game earlier? Making a worse game.

    The combat is dreary and repetitive, the number of abilities and customisation of said abilities is severely downgraded from the previous titles.

    Unfortunately I couldn't make myself keep playing, and I've left it to fester within its case. Never again will I pay this much money for something that has disappointed me so very harshly. I've learned my lesson.

    Shame on you, Bioware and your EA, putting money in your pockets and the pockets of "professional gaming reviewers".
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  23. Mar 1, 2015
    4
    I really dislike this game. Have no idea why it got some game of the year awards...
    I spent 20 hours playing it, while roughly half of that time was spent on walking and trying to understand what i'm supposed to do next, and where I'm supposed to go next. I didn't finish the game, just gave up.

    A real time waster, Skyrim was so much better.
  24. Dec 20, 2014
    1
    For a game that has so much talk, and conversation lines that do not match up, then the fact that you are forced to hear your party members go thru the same old, same old conversation piece again and again is bewildering, and will make you wish for the permanent mute button, if you have not decided just to demand a refund. The game's major let down is it's healing and Health situation...For a game that has so much talk, and conversation lines that do not match up, then the fact that you are forced to hear your party members go thru the same old, same old conversation piece again and again is bewildering, and will make you wish for the permanent mute button, if you have not decided just to demand a refund. The game's major let down is it's healing and Health situation... or lack thereof. The mage has NO Heal spell to help you thru combat. This is needed if playing on hard or above hard. To make matters even worse, when your party dies and you need to reload, you may find yourself respawning with 5% Health for the whole party. This is potentially a game-breaking , broken feature because if you are far from a camp and a tent therein to heal your party by then you may find yourself actually having to RESTART with a brand new toon from the beginning if you become sick of being played by Bioware in this manner. I actually found myself in this situation. For me the game is just talk, talk and more too much talk. The Heal situation is frustrating and will have you wish to have the game's devs called to account. Also despite the hype we were overfed before launch, the game is not open world at all. It has the same boxed in maps as the last games just a little larger. I would avoid this game like the plague. Don't waste your money on a game that is made to frustrate. Perhaps if the devs actually played the frustrations they make they might be able to do something about avoiding them, but it takes actually trying your mistakes out first before any real change can be affected. Expand
  25. Jul 22, 2015
    4
    I've played hundreds of games over the past 30 or so years and this one just didn't feel right to me. Slow game pace, extremely boring combat and an uninspiring open world. I would much rather play Skyrim or the Witcher 3. Only for people with too much free time at hand.
  26. Nov 28, 2014
    4
    The game has some potential but never achieves if due to be bogged in with an insane amount of generic boring fetch and return quests and collections most of which you will need to do in order of level up because unlike the previous two games the enemies in DA:I are level locked and you must level up to move on to new areas or story missions.

    Your ability to build your character and
    The game has some potential but never achieves if due to be bogged in with an insane amount of generic boring fetch and return quests and collections most of which you will need to do in order of level up because unlike the previous two games the enemies in DA:I are level locked and you must level up to move on to new areas or story missions.

    Your ability to build your character and party has been reduced since you no longer get attribute points to level up but instead you get certain points assigned when you choose specific abilities in the skill tree. You are also limited to how many potions you can carry, reduced to three potion slots and out of all the mage skills there is 1 single spell in knight enchanter specilization that can heal.

    You can also no longer use abilities with the radial menu and eventually I had more abilities unlocked than I could assign to my controller. Party members need constantly told what to do such as telling mages NOT to run into melee range of Dragons or Giants time and time again, the AI for party members is really rather bad.

    The voice acting is stellar, the cast did a great job especially Sera she has some great conversation's with the player and party members. There is also some great area's to explore but so little interesting content, my favourite part of the game was a Ball in the capital of Orlais which was beautiful and a very short venture into a Dwarf ruined Thaig. Battling Dragons is great fun and rewarding, the main story is rather short and has one or two twists that will surprise but the rest of it is very basic and predictable.
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  27. Jan 29, 2015
    1
    I love Dragon Age: Origins. Dragon Age 2 wasn't great, but playable and somewhat enjoyable. I also really love Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. This game, however, is not only the worst in the series but also the worst game Bioware has ever made by a large margin.

    The entire freaking game is made up of simplistic filler content like fetch quests. The combat is atrocious and completely
    I love Dragon Age: Origins. Dragon Age 2 wasn't great, but playable and somewhat enjoyable. I also really love Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. This game, however, is not only the worst in the series but also the worst game Bioware has ever made by a large margin.

    The entire freaking game is made up of simplistic filler content like fetch quests. The combat is atrocious and completely dumbed down. The writing is bad and the story is uninspired. The characters are superficial and boring. The Iron Bull beast romance option is disgusting. Tolerance and equality is good, but having what feels like half of the characters in the game to be LGBT feels forced. The UI is horrible and really annoying. The game is full of tons of bugs.

    I finally gave up after forcing myself to play this abysmal game for 12 hours and sold my copy as fast as I could to the next sucker. Avoid this completely unplayable drivel at all costs. Don't believe the bought critics or the perfect 10 user ratings from EA drones. I used to be a huge Bioware fan, but have now come to the realization that this once great studio is truly dead. I am done with them.
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  28. May 18, 2015
    4
    Good right up to the point the devs got bored and forgot to include a plot. you know your at that point because the game suddenly becomes a movie instead of a game. The hinterlands are massive very draw you in. Afterwards though.. run from A to B..... done that? better run back to A!
  29. Dec 4, 2014
    3
    Bioware/EA unable to promptly release patches for the myriad of bugs in this horribly broken beta test. Zero communication to their customers. Bioware is making even Activision/Bungie seem like angels in comparison.

    Boycott this game.

  30. Aug 27, 2015
    4
    Another game with reviews paid for by EA? - That's what I'd say if I were a cynic.

    However, I think the reason the game got super good 10/10 reviews, and is only now being 'revised' by those same reviewers as an 'average' game, is because DA:I is one of those 'front loaded' games. That is, all the exciting ambitious and interesting stuff happens right at the start, a torrent of
    Another game with reviews paid for by EA? - That's what I'd say if I were a cynic.

    However, I think the reason the game got super good 10/10 reviews, and is only now being 'revised' by those same reviewers as an 'average' game, is because DA:I is one of those 'front loaded' games.

    That is, all the exciting ambitious and interesting stuff happens right at the start, a torrent of storytelling and action! There's no foreplay here, it's right into the act! And god, it's good, this fine babe (or lad if you're so inclined) is sensational... And then it is over, a premature ejaculation of epic proportions.

    DA:I flops because once you get past the initial rush and buzz, it is essentially an MMO game crafted for single-player. Sure, it's "open-world" with selectable areas, and there are HUNDREDS of quests, but none of these are personal or interesting, merely being generic fetch-quests a kin to an MMO.

    Worse still, the main quest, while fantastically written, ends almost as soon as you decide to follow it. It peaks early and declines steadily after that and there are no more than 8 main quests to go through. Sure they're reasonably lengthy, and they're fantastically written, but it's not even 1/4 of the game. The other 3/4 is dedicated to fetch-questing and running around like a headless chicken doing MMO stuff for MMO reasons in a single player game.

    The 'war table' feature, where you assign your advisors to do important tasks on your behalf is simply a missed opportunity. You send them on missions and you have to wait for a real time timer to end. It's a concept locked behind an 'energy wall', akin to those crappy Candy Crush spin offs on your mobile phone.

    We get it EA, you think mobile and online gaming is the future; Newsflash; both trends died or are dieing frigging years ago, get with the times.

    What DA:I does have going for it is some fantastic character writing, on par with DA:O and absolutely miles ahead of the childish fantasies of DA2. But it hamstrings itself again with changes in art, changes in lore, retconning crap it doesn't need to be retconned. This time, the Qunari are changed, because their alien (and they are alien really) culture isn't in line with social 'equality', all of a sudden they've gone from mind-washing, "our society is right, a man is a man and a woman is a woman, they do gender assigned jobs" to a "transgender people are a-ok, genderfluid behaviour is completely normal".

    Not only that, the world, a fantasy world has been switched to be exclusively LGBT happy and fair and the various soapbox, mouthpiece characters harp on about it a touch too much. This isn't the older Bioware approach that allows you to experience and witness mistreatment first hand and form your own opinion on it, like in DA:O where you can actually accept a bribe to allow your own wife to be gangbang raped -OR- go on a murdering rampage because of it - , no, this is the new Bioware, who will HAMMER HOME THE POINT and tell you that oh my god, rape is wrong, cos you're a child and these inspirational modern society commentary people will educate you on it. Jog on with the patronising behaviour Sir and focus on providing a GOOD RPG.

    And that, is where DA:I falls apart, it is a generic, boring, social-commentary RPG tackling 'edgy' topics that most sensible, intelligent people already accept. It dumbed down its content to epic proportions, mindless fetch-quests, energy walls and so on. Not only that, combat has been adjusted to make it even simpler, removing all semblances of tactical flexibility and fun, truly DA:I succeeded where DA2 failed, in making the game a one button game - press button, boring stuff happens.

    An epic missed opportunity, and a shame to all the paid critics for yet again **** their pants with 10/10's only to remark how average the game is five months after release (like they did with DA2...ugh)
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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 43 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 43
  2. Negative: 0 out of 43
  1. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jan 13, 2015
    80
    A flawed almost-classic. [Jan 2015, p.84]
  2. Games Master UK
    Dec 30, 2014
    86
    Takes far too long to get going, but once it does you'll be hooked for the longest haul. [Jan 2015, p.64]
  3. Play UK
    Dec 18, 2014
    84
    An exhaustive and impactful world let down by predictable aesthetics and combat. [Issue#251, p.70]