Dragon Age Inquisition and Friends
And we have been graced by the perfection of the Dragon Age series.
Dragon Age Origins was brought to us with the promise of blood. Remember the marketing?
EXPLOSIONS OF BLOOD – imagine an echo with that.
Enter the rest of Origins and a compelling story shines through and dare I say it – dwarfs the amazing promise blood everywhere. Let’s be honest here – 90% of us had relations with Morrigan. Cheeky monkeys. Back on point, Origins when it hit the market was the game we Dungeon and Dragon fan boys wanted. I took 2 days off of work and went to my first midnight launch. I still don’t regret it.
Then there was Dragon Age 2, the game that didn’t get a slick sub name. This game was created with the thought in mind to capture a wider audience – the DnD fanboys didn’t generate enough sales I suppose. I admit the action based combat vs the “slow you don’t control much” Origins was a great way to speed up the game. I actually really enjoyed the change. Sadly the game was plagued with a story arch that needed some more love, liner area design and a real lack of micromanagement when it came to you party members.
Sadly, dumbed Dragon age 2 down to the detriment of the game. That didn’t stop me from downloading all the DLC content and beating it in every way I could think of – because I’m that guy.
Dragon Age Inquisition is the game I wanted.
There really can’t be better way to say it. Speaking for the masses – I believe I can say it’s the game we all wanted. They combined the action of Dragon Age 2 and the strategy of Dragon Age Origins to make a wonderful combat system.
Since we’re on the subject of combat system for Dragon Age Inquisition – I have a pet peeve. You see in the previous titles we were able to have more than 8 abilities as we could open up the radial menu and select an ability. In Dragon Age Inquisition In you can have more than 8 abilities but getting access to the 9th isn’t an option. This means we have to rely on passives to fill in the gaps character wise – which is a nice shift but I do hate being forced to follow a defined path when there really is no need.
Combat peeves aside – the game plays beautifully.
On Xbox One I experience no frame drops or screen tearing, which is quite the feat as at times I was expecting a slow down with the amount of pew pew from my mage and archers in combination with the world surrounding you.
I’m currently 210 220 hours into Dragon Age Inquisition and I still can’t see an end. I’ll get to the story in a moment; I just need to gush a bit about Ferelden and the Orlesian Empire. From Hinterlands to the Storm Coast and beyond – the areas are open, beautiful and varied. It’s as if Bioware realized one of the biggest mistakes in Dragon Age: 2 and made Dragon Age Inquisition 100% open. So open, that at times I am at a loss as to what quests to do or how to even get to a certain spot on the map. I do rarely use my mount as I am completely nuts about picking up everything I find. Yep, Dragon Age Inquisition has a mount – it’s a bit clunky and the elk-ish one makes the most annoying noise, but it’s needed if you’re just in the mood to hustle through a map.
Story wise – I have yet to experience some of the twists that you do in Dragon Age Origins but there are some interesting concepts and undertones that are being presented through out the game. I wish I could get into more detail, but rest assured you will not be disappointed.
As I am a bit of a min-max player (who am I kidding, I’m totally that guy), I am pleasantly pleased with the crafting system and the ability to get into the details with materials. I am a bit disappointed at the inability to assign points to my major stats. What I mean is, if I want to build a Dexterity based tank this is not an option as you can only add points to your base stats through skills and passives. An interesting decision and one I can look past as it really hasn’t impacted my current play through.
I’ve been looking forward to his game since the Xbox One was first shown last year and from midnight launch to now I have yet to play another game.
