Bioware was in a tough spot when it announced Dragon Age: Inquisition. Dragon Age: Origins was a massive hit across every platform in both a commercial and critical aspect. Dragon Age II was less positively received and many fans and critics felt it strayed too far from the RPG format Bioware helped pioneer. So it was no surprise that the announcement of Inqusition was met with cautious optimism. With the return of familiar characters and the addition of multiplayer, has Bioware recaptured the success of the Dragon Age series?
I’ll be the first to admit that Inquisition gets off to a slow start. The story has you play as one of many customizable character types including a warrior, mage, and either a melee or ranged rogue. You start after waking from what seems like a nightmare being interrogated for a mark on your arm. It is soon discovered that this mark can close rifts throughout the region which demons are passing through. After saving the day in a heroic opening battle there is much debate from NPCs about what to do with you next. It is decided that only you can help save the day and close the giant rift in the sky for good and you’re set off on an adventure to do just that.
This being a Dragon Age game of course, there are many obstacles along the way to prevent you from doing just that. Besides the main story, there are seemingly limitless side missions to play through ranging from fetch quests to crafting missions to requisition (a form of gathering) missions. This is the first Dragon Age to really have an open world feel to it and that open world feel—despite not being truly open world—is refreshing from the more linear areas of previous Dragon Age games. Once you get past the first few hours the game really comes alive. The story opens up and you become part of a greater purpose.
Several new and returning features make this the most ambitious Dragon Age game to date. The return of the tactical combat system that was surprisingly missing from Dragon Age II makes a very welcome return and will delight any fans of the more tactical genre of games. Truly meaningful choices make a return in Inquisition as well with your conversation choices not only with your companions, but other in game NPC’s affecting their overall opinion of you. Be wise in the decision you make because if a companion disagrees with you too much, they will leave your Inquisition for good.
Crafting also makes a welcome return to the series and while the constant hunt for things may be grindy and repetitious at times, when you are able to craft the higher level armor or weapons for your character and companions it is truly rewarding. Mounts also make their first appearance in a Dragon Age game and while I thought I would be riding around on my mount through the vast country-sides and snow capped mountains, it became something I used once or twice and never used again. It’s pointless to hop on your mount and start down the path only to be stopped just down the road after being attacked by a random mob of enemies. Exploration is encouraged and rewarding as you never know what loot and other surprises await you in the darkest of corners or highest of mountains.
Multiplayer makes its first appearance in a Dragon Age game and it is definitely hit or miss. For ideal success, you and three others can team up as one of the four class options and enter what amounts to battle arenas to take on NPC’s, gain levels and gear, and advance to the next map. While it can be insanely fun with the right group of people it can also be incredibly frustrating. The first handful of times I played through its first map with friends we had a hard time getting past the first few stages. It was only when we started leveling up and gearing ourselves that we continued to progress further. As of this writing, my normal run group and I are 11 levels into the multiplayer and we still have yet to complete the first stage fully.
The main problem I have with the multiplayer is you are thrown in with no rhyme or reason to what you’re doing. There is no story tying it together and no real instructions on what you’re doing in multiplayer. While its nice that the maps, enemies, and enemy types change with each playthrough to avoid stagnation, its equally frustrating when you customize your abilities to combat one type of enemy only to have that customization become stupidly nerfed when you play the next map. You have an amazing feeling of power at times, yet other times you feel so helpless. Reviving is also a hassle and it seems like they took a page out of the Assassin’s Creed: Unity book of Co-op play when it comes to certain mechanics. All of the issues aside it has been the game mode I’ve been playing the most as I slowly continue my way through the side missions I missed during the single player game.
Graphically the game looks okay. Its not that it looks bad, but for a next generation title, I expected more out of Bioware. In some areas the game is gorgeous and the scenery is beautiful. Draw distance is amazing when looking at things off in the distance and enemies all look quite good from afar. Its when you get close up that things start to look wonky. Hair on certain characters is stupidly shiny and looks horrible up close. Character models and gear on your characters also has a massive tendency to move out of place or clip into something or someone else. Its like the scenery and characters were designed by separate groups and mashed together into one game. The game feels like a weak port of the Xbox 360 version at times. I’m hoping these graphical issues are updated/fixed in a future patch.
The game sounds wonderful. From the music to the sound effects and ambient sounds to the character voices, everything is very well done. This is not surprising, as Bioware has always taken great pride in its immersive sound. Music sweeps across the action when needed and then a second later can be subtle and hardly noticed when you’re exploring. All of the voice acting is well done save a few small NPC voices that felt re-used but that could have just been my ears.