Dragon Age Inquisition Part 3: Was it Me or was it the Game?

Inquisition did provoke me to contemplate my failings as a player. Origins provided a rich tactical system that I appreciated but I exploited it rather than apply battle tactics. I wasn’t tempted to replay the game just to experiment with the system. In fact, I rarely replay games. Once I have explored the map and finished the main story, I am usually done with the game. I don’t even care if I got all the collectibles and achievements. Even so I like games that have replay value. If I think I got my money’s worth on one play through that’s fine I guess. To be fair, the tactical system had to be adapted for consoles but I still think Inquisition forced me to engage with the system. Origins allowed me to be lazy.

RPG’s in general seem less constrained than other genres and that’s what draws me to them. I don’t think I understand what role playing means in any traditional sense. I tend to play an aspirational version of me. It took me a long time to get bored with that but Inquisition seemed to be a breaking point. There was much I enjoyed on my first character but I was definitely dissatisfied. With so many player identities and party choices I thought there must be a more engaging way to play. I also felt I missed a lot of the narrative.

If I had played Dragon Age II I might have had a better opinion of Cullen and Varric. I liked Leiliana much better than I did in Origins. Even so I struggled to invest myself in the characters. This was partly because I originally played as a rogue. My party often consisted of Cassandra, Blackwell and Vivienne because they were the best at protecting my little human butt. So again my choices facilitated a friction-less tour through the country side. This was a reliable and somewhat dull party. At some point, Cassandra stopped bantering at all. I don’t know if I exhausted her dialogue or she couldn’t take it any more either.

That’s when I decided not to finish the game with that character. And I’m glad I started over. As a two handed warrior I could mix the party up a lot more. I paid much more attention to their narrative relevance to missions. Because my Qunari was a callous opportunist I embraced my contempt for them, This made picking dialogue options more interesting. It’s quite difficult to anticipate how they will react to anything. It isn’t easy to trigger alternative outcomes.

That said, I did enjoy this play through more. I understood all the systems and just flew through the first act. The maps are big enough that I didn’t have an exact memory of them. I made different choices. I also found ways to appreciate the characters. My Qunari didn’t always live up to his ruthless ambitions. I should mention that I wasn’t able to get the Dragon Age Keep working and that might have impaired my engagement but the default world state was fine for me I think.

What about the game itself though? Well yes it has flaws too. The main story gets lost in all the side content. There really could have been more main missions. I don’t mind insipid quests driving me around the map but the main quests for each region could have been more in depth and interesting. After you liberate one area the rest becomes a bit old hat.

The game’s systems can be quite confusing. The crafting system is ridiculous. There is no point to crafting at all until you start fighting dragons or exploring the DLC. The dragon fights are really the highlight of the game. There’s nothing wrong with that. Dragon fights should be a highlight. Sharing the glory with Iron Bull is great. It’s not that I didn’t like the crafting and customization options I just felt the game could use an in depth help system. Yes I know that the loading screens are so slow that I can learn off the helpful tarot cards but randomly telling me something I could have known sooner didn’t make me all that happy. And knowing things didn’t always mean I understood them.

Even though the tactical system is simplified, it wasn’t at all clear how to use it effectively. I’m still convinced characters were not doing what they were directed to. Battles could be challenging enough that I did use the tactical camera. Overall I enjoyed the combat and I liked setting up combos once I figured it out. I loved being able to switch playable characters. No getting stuck ever.

The environments are varied and interesting to explore. I was a little disappointed that there was no day night cycle especially when the beautiful Frostback basin turned to permanent night.

The worst thing for me was the leveling system. The game is very busy for the first half between all the war room missions, character and party upgrades and equipment management. Then leveling slows down and so does the game radically. This means that you are generally equipped and ready for missions and tougher areas which is a good thing. For me the second half of the game seemed less engaging. I’m not sure that “now that I’m not so distracted I’m not quite as interested” is a ringing endorsement for the game. I suppose I could have barreled through the main missions and triggered activities faster but again more missions may have have balanced it out better.

To conclude, I consider this a good game that could have been great. It is one of the few games that compelled me to make a new character and replay. I have read about some of the challenges the developers faced and I’m sympathetic to that. I’m looking forward to the next game in the series. I also resolve to embrace the systems game developers offer and invest myself a little more.