Dragon Age: Inquisition in Close Critique [MAJOR SPOILERS] 

Play as a Dalish Elf, that's pretty fun. You can just keep insisting "I believe in the elven pantheon you know" and everyone's like "Yeah but- the Maker!"

The amount of elf root I have collected...

I found the most disappointing omission from Inquisition to be the absence of any actual quests involving your character's origin, with missions special to your characters race and chosen focus. Instead, I got a war table entry referring to my character. Nothing else. It was especially disappointing when I found out the human mage origin story got no resolution, seeing as how that story involved being exiled from a heavily chantry entrenched family for being a Mage. I had expected, at the very least, a resolution encounter with my characters siblings or parents, similar to Dorians climax mission. What a missed opportunity, especially considering how much depth it could've provided to your Inquisitor. Like how the origin stories of the first game provided depth to your own Grey Warden.

Your commentary is great and you make a lot of good points, but if I may suggest something on the technical side... play the gameplay clips in the background, but mute it. The gameplay's whispering behind your own voice is distracting and in this particular video you were completely drowned out by Morrigan's epilogue narration. We watch the video to listen to you, not what you're discussing.

Did people really want open world? Or did they want better looking DAO with more fluid combat?

You know, long ago when they talked about how Inquisition was going to be "open and sand-box like", I was like "shit, don't go there." But I still had high hopes for it. After I played it though, I was like "shit, it is exactly what I feared."

What I really enjoyed about DA:O’s sidequests is that they very frequently introduced setting and story elements. Some were just about the phat lewt, to be sure, but even a fetch quest can build setting - establish how the economy works (what is the role of a dog in Felerden society?), play off regional or racial grievances (do elves get along with humans?), establish tone or mood (those bandits fleecing travelers are a threat, but they aren’t just killing people at random), establish mechanics (blighted bears means that it’s not just a threat to humans), and so on. Side quests should serve a narrative point, not just grant loot.

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it in the comments, but you actually CAN change the course of Leliana's character development over the game. In my first playthrough, she ended up becoming more merciful, coming to grips with her faith in spite of Justinia's death, and she actually spared the spying Sister in the chapel at my request. Her dialogue and disposition after that mission is also a lot more cheerful than it is if she kills the Sister in cold blood. Great video (as always), just thought I'd point out that Leliana's character development is even more nuanced than you might have experienced on a single playthrough!

I usually play a female elf mage. playing a female mage in origins you can get some dialog out of Cullen that he fancies you but in his position, as a templar, he was too ashamed to admit that and when you meet him again just before the boss fight the chance for romance is gone. the interesting bit is my character was in a romance with Blackwall that abruptly ended when the truth about him was revealed. I spared him and gave him the chance to be the gray warden he idolized himself to be but I felt my character was in a romance with a person she didn't know. shortly after I am talking to Cullen who has grown disillusioned with the templar order. he's struggling with lyrium addiction. our of a sense of duty and pity I decide to help him, from that point on most of the actual meaningful dialog with Cullen comes up. In healing a broken man my character healed her broken heart. it leads to the second romance in this game. though I as the player know my character wasn't the first elf mage Cullen fell in love with the first was my hero of Ferelden. Cullen has a thing for elf mages: a neat little detail unique to my playthrough of the dragon age series but to me also one of the most meaningful ones to me.

It's funny how accurate you were, Trespasser was indeed the true ending to the game, and it was the last DLC released. And while the ending was very well done, it's disappointing we didn't get the follow up in the original release.

Can we talk about how this game is damn Paris fashion week how outfits and armor looks?

29:27 - "Leliana is one of the few characters who will actually tell you "no" when you ask her to be merciful. There's no talking her out of it over the course of the campaign either. This is how Leliana is now." Sir, I beg to differ. My very first playthrough, I got her to realize that she was not a vengeful killer. She even spared the sister at the temple 'who was her enemy.' You just missed some dialog options, I expect.

My biggest gripe with this game and most modern so called RPG's is that I dont feel like Im playing my character. When I played Origins I could control the way my characters not only acted with dialogue, or looked with armor or character creation, but also how he/she played. I am the type that likes to play a more, supportive role. In origins I played a healing mage. But I also wanted to outlast in fights in order to help keep the rest of my group alive. So i used alot of stat points on increasing my max health. Using both the class, choices,stat points, etc in origins I could play my character exactly how I envisioned him/her to be. I could make my game unlike any other persons. In Inquisition I feel like most of my control was taken away. That im left playing a character I have little to no say in, except in barbie doll type ways. Just like the game itself is beautiful to look at, I feel it had no substance. Like it was missing its soul. The player. I couldnt adjust the details that made the character mine. I couldnt make the game play as I wanted. I couldnt even heal if I wanted to. My choices in abilities were severely lacking and linear. Its akin to having a car that you customized and made your own. From every nut and bolt, you knew that car from top to bottom. But its getting old and dated, so they take that car away and give you 4 or 5 standardized choices for a new one and tell you not to touch anything under the hood. If your an archer, your an archer. If your a mage, your a mage. And not just any archer or mage, but thier idea of what an archer or mage is. Not yours. And to me, thats not a lot of fun. Not to mention all the other gripes I have with the games quests, the lack of all the content they promised like additional forts, timed events, a living world with people coming and going. The ho hum characters and story. Overall I feel like I was lied to and swindled by Bioware/EA. And im still waiting for that true, modern RPG Ive always wanted, but I dont think Ill ever get at this rate.

Audio problems around the 44:10 mark. Noah's commentary becomes indecipherable.

Humorously you were right, they did release the ending 2 years later

I'm sure it's been pointed out, but part of your dialogue over the epilogue is drowned out by Morrigan's speech.

It's not just the final battle that's abrupt. The lead up to closing the Breach was also a big cop out, but luckily for that quest what followed made up for it (The assault on Haven) but I thought this was a problem in general about Inquisition. Lack of buildup in main quests -- it feels like every main quest just start you in the middle of the action like if it was a movie where half of every scene had been cut out. Otherwise amazing, but they have to tone down the MMO fetching and prolong main quest and character sidequesting for their next game. It feels like half a Bioware game and half a whatever MMO game.

At its most basic, storiented root, my biggest issue with INQ is that this felt like two separate (related) games thrown together: the story of the Herald (closing the Breach and defeating the in-world Satan), and the story of the Inquisitor (kicking in doors and creating the New World Order). The Herald ties directly to everyone's most fundamental pieces of spiritual lore, and the Inquisitor ties directly to the world's political power structure. The Herald, whose existence (and the existence of the enemy he fights) calls all belief/non-belief into question, is an agent of chaos; the Inquisitor, who looks to end all the tumult, is an agent of order. The Herald can absolutely use his prestige to change the dynamics of the world, but he must first complete his task as the Maker's chosen. The Inquisitor is there to shape the world in his image--but only because he already has the power to do so. And, for me, INQ never reconciles these distinctions, never gives the Herald the chance to become the Inquisitor, because it tries to have both ideas exist simultaneously.

I felt like Inquisition needed to have your companions have more impact on the main story. In most cases it never really mattered what your relationship was with them because it wouldn't impact anything in the game world except for their little side quests. In Dragon Age 2 your friendship with your companions would in some cases decide their allegiance with you at the end of the game, and I thought that was brilliant.

I played Inqusition the first time through exactly 30 minutes after the Day 1 patch was installed. There is a lot of stories about that, but the worst was Corypheus. Not only was he a complete let-down from Legacy in terms of boss fights, but I killed him so fast on accident that I broke the game. Just through dragon killing and a bit of experimenting, I'd crafted a very powerful bow. I was about level 20 or so. I damaged Cory so fast that it skipped the cutscenes and I instead looked at 90 seconds of a loading screen. Just when I was about to give up, the game came back only with Cory and everyone else on the other side of the ruins area. He had a silver of health, wasn't doing anything and I knew he was bugged. I reloaded to the beginning of the boss fight and auto-attacked him to avoid triggering the bug. Thankfully it was fixed in the next patch, but that left a lasting impression on me. Cory has a great intro, but is one of the worst final villains in a BioWare game that I've ever played.

Did you ever do the Varric side quest with Bianca? His character gets more complicated the more you think about it. He seems to stand in as a sort of moral compass a lot of the time, reminding you not to get too full of yourself, reminding you to not to forget the little guy even as you gain standing in Kirkwall or Skyhold. He's an author & occasionally adds some meta commentary, to speak from on high. But really, he's elbow-deep in dirty dealing. In DAII he's involved with the carta, the underworld of gangs. And in Inquisition's Bianca quest it becomes clear that he's partially responsible for the spread of red lyrium across Thedas. He kept the shard from DAII (already an iffy decision) and lets the estranged love of his life spend some time with it... but she's got her own set of dirty dealings. So ultimately the cuddliest of the companions, the guy who everyone gets along with, probably does more harm than the rest of them combined.

It seems to me like Inquisitions problems stem from Bioware listening to too much fan feedback for their own good. People, after playing DA2 wanted more stats, more regions, more loot, and just more bog standard rpg elements. Which they got at the detriment of the interactive questing experience from the last 2 games. I may be crucified for saying this but as much as I dislike the companions and the general gameplay of DA2 it had a more cohesive story that progressed naturally through 3 arcs and was just plain superior to DAI in that regard. I'm not even sure which I prefer more, the quest light 100 hour exploration of DAI or the more tightly constrained but well developed story from DA2. And that climax was confusing as hell, I was under the impression Corypheus was assaulting Skyhold, the Inquisitor and co simply run outside from the war room, then BAM instant boss fight. What was Bioware thinking? They had amazing climax battles before: the battle of Denerim, the citadel approach from Ilos, the suicide mission, the assault on London, even the ending missions from both the Qunari arc and the mage v templar arc of DA2 were pretty good climaxes in their own right. This just reeks of cut and/or rushed content. Edit: It felt like the temple of Mythal was supposed to be the closing mission of the second arc, but the problem is we never got a 3rd arc to the story, at least thats how I felt once I finished it, 200 hours into the game.

Just being honest, the main story is nowhere near 40 hours. If you were to remove all of the lvl and power limits of the main content and were able to proceed from main plot to main plot, you would notice it being easily the shortest Bioware game. It's maybe 10 hours worth of stuff.

I respectfully disagree in regards to the relationships feeling integral and natural to the plot. The romances seemed more like a side note and aside from Solas, didn't effect the story. Also, the pacing felt rushed. I go from teasing Cassandra about reading smutty literature to arranging our first date, which culminates in her declaring her love for me on said first date. We just started going and already she's madly in love with me. All I did was find a book for her and arrange a picnic, nothing too extravagant on my part but yet I'm supposed to be in love if I want the romance to continue. A bit rushed I felt. Also, most romances were achievable by the hallway point, meaning romances can go relatively forgotten for a good chunk of the game. Romances ultimately didn't leave much of an impact as they were too quick and too easy to maintain. I mean, the only way to end a relationship in Inquisition is to break it off verbally, not through your actions as a character.

Just wanted to drop a line to tell you how much we appreciate your measured, thoughtful review. So often video game reviewers fall into hyperbole, fitting as much fire into 4-5 minutes as they can to maximize clicks and likes. We found your style a breath of fresh air - honest about both the good and bad that you found. There are things we might disagree with, many things we see eye-to-eye on, but what we can't fault you on is that you clearly took the time to weigh all the pieces of the game before taking its measure. Thanks for adding a touch of both class and sanity to the review scene.

The reason Inquisition feels that way is because the game *started development as an MMO.* You were right, the end of the game was DLC.

Before i give you my opinion on Inquisition, let me tell you that i'm a huge fan of the Dragon Age series. Dragon Age Inquisition: - tactics gone - there's no direct healing spell - when people talkin you cannot loot - extremely slow levelin' - awful mini map - you cannot change attributes anymore - really? you cannot pick a fuckin' blood mage as a class anymore, yet in-game there are blood mages! - lots o' glitches - there is no stereo support in the audio options - loading screens are brutal - this game is not pc optimized - no direct option to equip and compared loot as you pick - conversation cutscenes locks to 30 frames per second with no reason - Monetized multiplayer - Inquisition has many more to do - large areas, war table, crafting and more. Bu "more" doesn't mean "better". - boring gameplay - exploring is unrewardin' - power fuckin' points, really? - repetitive & boring side quests - the world's big but not interesting one - combat is boring Personally i'd give a 4/10. The game's graphics are fukin' awesome but is this a reason to be Game of the Year?

I feel like DA:I didn't need to be MMO-like, or Mass Effect-like. I wish the game would've been just like Origins. I feel like Inquistion had a weaker story, weaker companions (although some of them were really well written and were great). I feel like overall DA:I just isn't a 9/10 game like Origins was. The simple fact that we are spending so much time building the Inquisition to not even matter in the end. Main antagonist was boring and way less interresting than how he was presented during Legacy. I also think Bioware went WAY too far with decisions. At the end of the game we are lile the most OP organisation in Thedas, we get to choose who's ruling Orlais, who the next Divine is, how mages are treated... I just have a hard time imaginening how Bioware's gonna introduce the next game. "Oops well the Inquisition explosed for some reason and the Inquisitor, which was close to being a god at the end of DA:I, randomly left/or died so we can properly introduce a new protagonist and somehow introduce another world-threat. Oh and we're gonna dumb down the game. Again.

Origins was a grand rpg with factions stats and adventure. It was effectively a online dnd campaign and I never really heard anyone say that that was not what they expected or wanted out of the series and in fact the large similarity's between DAO and classic table top rpg is what was so appealing to me and many others. So i find is so head scratching when bio ware seems to try to move farther and farther away from that with each iteration in the series. They seam to have the mindset of changing things for the sake of being different rather than for the better. Reworking the combat and character system because it makes for good advertising material rather than making a good game.

Part of the fun of origins was the replay-ability, grabbing a different race or class even if it wasn't the one you would normally prefer to see the different choices and consequences available. At about 40-60 hours of play this was doable. After my first 120 hour play-through of Inquisition I can't bring myself to do it again, this time as a Gay Qunari Rogue...or whatever. I find myself watching you-tube videos to find out what could've/would've happened rather than going through the experience myself and I think that is a damned shame. I've picked enough elfroot.

To everyone who played majority of the Bioware Games : Go Play Baldurs Gate 1 + 2 Go Play Icenwind Dale 1 + 2 Go Play Neverwinter Nights + all DLC Go Play KOTOR 1 + 2 Go Play Jade Empire Do you feel it? The same Formula applied to different Gamerules and Worlds. Now go play Mass Effect 1 to 3. It is Biowares attempt at creating a SciFi World for themselves. Story was great and It was a huge success in my Opinion. Now go and play Dragon Age 1 to 3. After playing so much Bioware games you will FEEL it. You will FEEL that something is WRONG with DA:I. Yet you cannot Nail it, maybe it is the clouded game mechanics, maybe the unpoplulated world? Terrible GUI? Lack of Direction apart Main Story? The Bugs? Maybe it is the lack of feedback from the world around you? Maybe it is because you can JUMP for the first time in a Bioware game? And how pointless this jumping is? You will not nail it but you will definitely feel the Wrongness in DA:I. It makes me hate it.

"...you must also play an equally long game of picking flowers to finish it..." Perfect conclusion there! ;-)

Great video! I think your analysis of the side quests being MMO-type missions is spot on (hadn't looked at it that way but I knew something was wrong :P) One thing though: you talk about how elves are not really a topic that is explored much in DAI, but I think you forgot one: dwarves. And I completely understand why you forgot to mention them: it's like they don't matter in DAI. They are *completely* ignored. The Valammar mission is a joke (you do learn more about Varric but there is not a single dwarf to be found there..), as is the Hissing Wastes side quest.

I have such a crush on Cassandra. She's a wonderful character

Leliana can be made to show mercy if you made a series of specific decisions throughout the whole of the game. It's not easy, but it can be done.

I have stumbled upon your videos months ago and found you to be a unique voice and a great addition to the youtube era of video game criticism. With this video, I believe you have cemented your status as one of the "new forms" of critics for video games in this digital age, along with Superbunnyhop and Campster. I just finished Inquisition myself a few days ago and was disheartened with the reviews from "legit game sites" and found you review spot on to how I felt in most regards. You have a unique sytle and voice; if I may off one suggestion, I would hope in future installments that you seek better audio quality for your commentary. I, admittedly, have no idea what one has to do in order to provide quality audio, but it was quite hard to hear at times, especially during the epilogue areas. That being said, I value your comprehensive critiques and look forward to more in the future.

Finally! I've been looking for a deep, complete DAI review for 6 months. I'm subscribing.

Add the Patreon link at the top of your descriptions. People might want to support you but they won't if they don't know that they can.

I thought your opinion was interesting, thoughtful, considered and well argued but I didn't always argee. Just an aside but you are actually wrong about Leilana - you can soften her in Inquisition just as you could harden her in Origins. You have to pick the right options all the way through - spare the traitor she wants to kill back in Haven, tell her she did the right thing protect her agents before the attack on Haven and their lives matter. People say choice doesn't matter in Inquisition but in that case at least they are wrong - what you say to Leilana throughout the game is incredibly important and will shape whom she becomes for good or ill.

Its odd how you haven't mentioned much of the actual gameplay. For a lot of people, especially those who loved DA:O, that was by far one of the largest issues. Ignoring the still shoddy PC controls, the game has become extremely simplified. Tactics has been removed,. positioning, group dynamics, stats, etc. have also been removed, only to be replaced with graphical flair and huge movements (which feel out of place when the actual damage you do doesn't correspond). This was a huge issue, the game took the worst aspects of DA: 2 (I liked the story) and just expanded it. To further exacerbate this was the drop in difficulty, because the game was so damn easy (outside of horrible control issues, see tutorial boss fight) there I guess wasn't a need for a complex tactics system, or selecting stats, or thinking about your actual party member selection,etc. This should've been discussed.

Another great video. I saw this and I was like "I remember playing this, but I don't actually remember it." And thinking maybe I should revisit it. 40 minutes I'm like, "Right, this was completely forgettable and remember why I thought people were saying this is the Game of the Year."

Wrong: The first "Choice" dialogue you get in haven with Leliana literally determines whether she obeys you in her companion quest or not. You can soften or harden her.

Good review, but I honestly can't see why you like Sera at all. Of course she's caustic to people who tread on the commoners--she's caustic to everyone, at all times, regardless. She loves to murder and admits to such. She makes awful, nasty comments and constantly acts like a child when she has had enough hard lessons to know better. She struck me as a sociopath, just charming enough with those who don't have reason to hate her that she's protected for her actions. When the inquisitor asks Sera what she brings to the table, she threatens them. I'm all for someone more chaotic thrown in the mix, someone who maybe cares more for personal interests and less for power struggles and the like--but realistically, I can't think of a single competent inquisitor who wouldn't immediately throw Sera out and that is a definite flaw in her writing. Also Iron Bull is interesting, but his representation of the Qunari is seriously skewed and so obviously biased that he seems like a classic youth pastor. "Yeah, the Qun is awesome! You can have someone rub one out at the state brothels!!!" The combination of his isolation from Qunari society and using his stage personality--the Iron Bull--to justify his people's more rigid philosophy just ruins whatever advocacy he tries to put up for the Qun--and that is a huge percentage of his dialogue.

Inquisition is flawed because EA didn't want this game to be the single player RPG masterpiece it could've been, EA wanted money, and we all know they're going at great lengths to do that. >MMO quests in a single player game(we're starving, kill 5 deer) >Dogshit boring superficial characters(except Varic they're all uninteresting and poorly written, walking steretypes and tokens) >Dumbed down system >Lots of plot holes The concept itself is actually formidable and shows so much potential. You play as a religious prophet in charge of a large military and political force tasked with saving the world. It takes skill to fuck that up when you have a virtually endless budget

One thing I liked a lot about Inquisition is that the huge areas, while not connected as a whole open world, made me feel that there was a real sense of scale of Thedas as a fully-sized continent, especially when compared to the somewhat humorously small size of Skyrim as a nation. Fictionally, it takes something like three weeks to travel from the Frostback Mountains to Lake Calenhad, and I felt that the sheer scope of an area like the Hinterlands, for being just a small area around Redcliffe, helped to make it feel like the world was much more realistically huge in a way that would just not be practical to actually map out as an open world game. I felt the characters were fantastic, with Dorian easily being one of my favorite Bioware party members. I think Iron Bull is meant to give a "human" element to qunari--he's there to show that, as he says himself, people are people, whether under the Qun or under the Chantry. While likable, I do prefer the more difficult-to-connect-with nature of other qunari we've encountered and interacted with in the past. Their culture is so different from what we're used to seeing that it presents something really interesting and worthy of further exploration. I really hope that a future major Dragon Age title is centered around Tevinter, Par Vollen, Seheron, and the struggles of the unending war between the Tevinter Imperium and the qunari. Vivienne is a great character that I desperately wanted to kick out of the Inquisition--her beliefs and air of superiority about her beliefs clash so greatly with my own beliefs, as a player, about a number of things in the Dragon Age world, that I truly wanted to argue with her personally because the game did not have the dialogue options to allow me to argue with her through the Inquisitor. Furthermore, when it was clear that my direction for the Inquisition was not aligned with Vivienne's interests, it seemed like it would be only natural to ask her to leave, but that option simply doesn't exist. I loved Cole and his party interactions a whole lot, but I also loved Thane (he was my romance option of choice in Mass Effect 2), so that only makes sense, really. Cassandra was a surprise for me. I usually play something of a Chantry skeptic, so I didn't particularly expect to like her off the bat, but ended up romancing her. I agree that the late game story pacing is a bit off and it leaves a number of things unresolved, but I was so psyched at the time that some of my favorite elements of Dragon Age Origins were coming back into play in any way at all that it didn't bother me too much. I've always been extra interested in Flemeth, Morrigan, my Warden's child with Morrigan, etc., so seeing those things come back in the way they did made me very happy. This seems like one of the slow burns of Dragon Age, to be revealed over a long period of time, so it makes sense to me that the stakes were raised as opposed to wrapping it up. As for the end twist, I imagine some people probably hated it. I thought it was fascinating, but again, the whole Morrigan Flemeth thing is one of my main interests in the Dragon Age world and this twist fit right in. It prompted me to immediately restart the game to pursue a different love interest and to look over the dialogue of a certain character with greater interest than before because of the added dimension that the ending revealed. Restarting the game like this, as a different race, also showed me the interesting different approaches that non-humans get. While the human background is either associated with the Chantry or the Circle, both with a background of Chantry life, the elf background is Dalish, and you get dialogue options related to your cultural belief in the Dalish pantheon of gods instead of the Chantry. I'm really interested to play a dwarf or a qunari and see the different options. Particularly for dwarves, as dwarves have no connection to the Fade, yet your character can enter it physically. I felt that the gameplay was probably the weakest in this installment, despite the MMO-like focus on the gear and numbers game. There's a certain satisfaction to having game knowledge that will help you when you go into high difficulties. I love Dragon Age Origins in every way, from story to combat, and one of the satisfying elements of Dragon Age Origins on a high difficulty is knowing not only how to play the encounters, but how to go about getting geared up quickly enough that you can make a much easier time for yourself. Inquisition loses this by having almost everything be randomized drops and the best items often needing to be crafted. By focusing on the MMO gear and numbers grind, I feel that Inquisition actually loses some of the depth and fun of the numbers game that was present in previous Dragon Ages. There's not even really any special sets of armor with special abilities or whatever, which just doesn't feel as good--knowing that you can go to one place to get this armor set, or another place to get this powerful sword or whatever, is part of the fun of high difficulty playthroughs of Dragon Age. You are rewarded for your game knowledge by being able to get more powerful and become more survivable faster than if you didn't have that knowledge. As is in Inquisition, you're almost always on that gear treadmill because you can't really get anything that's going to last until you're actually at the end of the game. I always feel that gear treadmills are problematic when they work like this, as getting the best gear at the end means you have virtually nothing left to do with said best gear. I always find it more satisfying to be able to get the gear I want or need as fast as possible so that I can actually use that gear to play the game, but that's just my personal taste. Other than gear, the tactics system leaves much to be desired, though I imagine that might have a lot to do with the engine being built from Frostbite instead of their own systems of previous Dragon Ages.

I was able to get Leliana to be merciful in that scene.

Good video. Nailed most of the things I like and dislike about this game. I honestly don't get why this game got all those GOTYs. While I wouldn't call it awful for I did enjoy it, I think it has too many problems to be regarded as great. A static, lifeless world packed with non-engaging fetch quest which have no memorable NPCs nor different outcomes AND since the main quest is short, these damn quests are what make the most of the game's content. I agree: if only we could have those War table missions as actual gameplay. I'd happily trade 50 hours of current stuff to have 10 hours of that. Then there's the underwhelming boss/ending, limited roleplay, lack of consequence, dumbed down combat, etc. Really not getting all the fanboys and girls hyping this game as the greatest RPG evar!!!

Damn you really did call the ending a soft fart. You really went there.

I purchased this on the advice of a friend, and I am relieved to say this is the last Bioware game I'll ever buy. The Bioware of today is not the developer I grew up with, and it's a relief to know that I can stop hoping for the games of my youth and I can stop helping to fund a company that makes games that I no longer enjoy.

I honestly really liked the busy work 😅 it felt like everything was a drop in the bucket of the war effort in gathering Allie’s for the inquisition

There seems to be an audio issue at about 44:15, where Morrigan does the epilogue. The game audio is a bit too loud and drowns out your narration.

i dont know why but i really prefered DA2 over inquisition. DA1 was nice and all but for some reason i tend to look back and think DA2 when i think about series in whole.

one thing that bothered me about dai's writing is the lack of character arc/development. Like yeah, some characters like cole go through changes but they rarely change something core about the character. Dorian, for example, has dialogue that's entirely missable where he talks about slavery in tevinter being something he's not concerned about fixing. That's a HUGE flaw! imagine the dialogue we could've gotten with a dalish inquisitor. I like the quest we get with him but regardless on whether or not you encourage dorian to speak with his father, the outcome is the same. Where's the change there? question any character in dai on what they believe and it just ends up with lesser approval. Contrast that with companions from da2 like fenris, who can go from very anti-mage to considering mage!hawke as a genuine friend. also, hawke being anti-blood magic despite the possibility of them being a blood mage. I felt really annoyed when my hawke was imported into the game. Like ma'am, your girlfriend is a blood mage! why would you think like this? Also, I miss the individualized character-specific combat trees and friendship perks. It made becoming a character's friend feel like a real payoff.

My advisors having a better game :) I felt the same, clearing area after area collecting root. OK, each area has a sideplot and some of them actual mean something to the overall game, but solving them is very much the same everywhere and time consuming.

Good video. Interesting explorative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Dragon Age Inquisition. I'd suggest for future videos, you consider audio editing as there were many times I couldn't make out what you were saying over the audio of the game.

I just noticed that the woman on the cover of Varric's novel looks just like Aveline from DA2.

"This might be the best ensemble cast Bioware has come out with" ME2: "u wot mate?"

I disagree that DAI has the best Bioware cast. That would be Mass Effect. Or Dragon Age Origins. If DAI had Alistair as an advisor, then we could talk!

Most problems with this saga have one major cause: Consoles. Dragon Age Origins was designed for PC, in the same line of Baldur's Gate (not Neverwinter Nights that was ought to be an online experiencing with DM, but also the single player campaign of NWN has more in common with Baldur's Gate than Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, because still RPG). The problem in Dragon Age development was that EA happened to Bioware... then the game must be "converted" to be multiplatform, but it was almost finished so still in the original line: RPG with tactic pause and isometric view to point troops, give orders and point enemies to execute when out of pause. But that system was a pain to play with gamepads in consoles, so Dragon Age 2 was n "hybrid" between RPG and ARPG... bad combination. Fast action combat with... combos? really? so the tactic pause had no sense, neither the stats, you solve most situations with your "human reflexes" instead the character's stats. (You are fighting, not your character). Dragon Age 2 was a mess (mostly because was unfinished), but they still in the ARPG way, so Inquisition was an attempt to convert the saga to Elder Scrolls style. Total ARPG, zero RPG (or optional, but with no meaning). And, of course, thanks consoles/EA zero modding tools like Baldur's Gate, NWN, and Dragon Age Origins... Tell me you if Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition deserve the name of a saga that came from Baldur's Gate, with a specific combat system that is no more, and with no official mod support.

I'm glad to see another video. I really like your work. Cheers.

Have just discovered your reviews and absoloutelh love them. Will you be doing a review of the witcher series or just witcher 3?

I would love to see a revisit and A Thorough Look At this franchise in anticipation of the new release

But you can talk Leliana out if it, I'm sure I did once or twice at least. Great videos, keep up the good work

One of if not my favorite thing about INQ to this day is the dragon fights. Dragons feel big and powerful and take time to actually kill, they're all the things I wished Skyrims dragons where and are still a massive highlight to the game.

Totally forgot about Krem. Hey, modern media this is how you treat sensitive social subjects. Just include them as a matter of course. Stop cramming it down people's throats and patting yourselves on the back for how damn enlightened you are.

44:18 Were you editing this while sleeping?

I find it ironic how DA2 is so hated but this game is lauded. To me Inquisition is DA2 but bigger with some improvements. That would be fine if it was what Dragon Age is supposed to be. I feel either Bioware or EA addressed problems with Origins. However they did in a way where the sequels are so radically different but closer to other action games. Origins was not a action game but a true rpg. The series progressively moved away from rpg elements in favor of action. Inquisition pushes it into feeling like a mmo without the multiplayer. While giving window dressing to those who are in it for rpg elements. The game is even more shallow than Skyrim. I don't know how that is even possible aside from Fallout 4 and the Fable sequels. Quests are so monotonous. I couldn't care less. Andromeda handled them better but it still suffers. It kills me how your inner circle does much more interesting things than you do. DA2 has much better side quests. Origins quests may not have the best gameplay but they were still interesting. I hate the changes to the combat. Origins had a strategy feel to it. The sequels removed this and made it a subpar action sim. I hate when sequels try to do the opposite of what the original nailed. The story is short as hell minus the grinding. It is also not interesting after bad guy reveals himself. He was so much better in Legacy and annoyingly introduced in said dlc. The graphics are great but shinny as hell. The frostbite engine is used better here than in Andromeda. Though I prefer the art style of Origins. They should have kept that and improved it instead of removing in DA2 and then again in this one. The companions are one note for the most part but are the best part of the game. Dragon Age Inquisition is a solid game but a terrible Dragon Age game because it doesn't know what that is. Why can't sequels be faithful to the original rather than being so radically different? Mass Effect ever since the 2nd game also commits the same offence.

Hi Noah - yet another superb dissection of the tropes, detail, and presentation of an eventual 'classic' game. Glad to see my misgivings are mirrored in yours! I must say, I found the Trespasser DLC to provide a much more satisfying conclusion to the Dragon Age Inquisition story. Have you played it, and will you be adding some Jaws of Hakkon/The Descent/Trespasser critique to your DA:I content?

I cannot understand how you do not have more subscribers. it is very evident that you put a lot of time and energy into your reviews and information videos. while it is the case with many reviewers that judging by their screenshots and clips, it isn't clear that they played more than 5 hours of a game and yet they're trying to give me information. love the videos keep on truckin.

What I really disliked was the lack of interactions or the feelings thereof between main characters in your team aside from some dialogue when moving in a party.

Watching the game footage, it makes me really sad to see just how natural and normal the Inquisitor's movements look on the male model. I've played the game twice, once as a female elf and once as a female qunari. The rigging of the inquisitor model always looked like complete trash, especially on the elf. She moved weirdly the whole game, with bizarrely held shoulders, bow legs, and generally terrible posture. But none of that shows up in the male PC. Absolutely wildly disappointing.

Child Laborer: Sir, have we gathered enough elfroot yet? Taskmaster:Why, me boy, I'm afraid I don't follow yer question? CL:Well, sir. It's just we bin gatherin elfroot for hours and hours, ya see. We're tired, sir. TM: i see. And what, me lad, do you think is 'enough' elfroot? CL: *Quivering* I don't know, sir. TM backhands CL TM: That's roight. Cus there ain't no thing as 'enough' elfroot.

@noah It actually is possible to talk her (Leliana) out of it, just incredibly difficult and predicated on interactions in origins. Also, for better or worse, Solas' development in game is far greater if you play as an elf, particularly a female elf romancing him. The sort of resigned disappointment with which he treated my male elf inquisitor was a really great touch, as of course was the melancholic and weary optimism with which he treated my female elf inquisitor.

My first playthrough I so despised Vivienne, she didn't even get an invite to my cool party. But on my second playthrough, trying out a quite different inquisitor, she was actually pretty interesting.

As a standalone game outside the Dragon Age franchise the game is quite good, but as the last installment in the dragon age trilogy it is deeply disappointing. It is hard to pinpoint the faults of the game, but I have never been so disinterested in a rpg game story as in this game.

the one thing I have to say I loved about dragon age inquisition is when morrigan was waring a red velvet dress at the party, which is a call back to origins.

“Upcoming Dragon Age content” oh dear, I’ve got some bad news 😢

Thanks for this! On point with everything I felt playing this game. The story and sidequests were largely so bland and inconsequential that I couldn't even bring myself to finish the game. Every time I hoped for a bigger chunk of story, it didn't come. Again, your articulate looks at games are satisfying watches. Wonder if you'd do a close look at the Homeworld series!

Am I the only one whom finds strange at how much the reviewer vs user scores diverge so much from this game on metacritic.com? It's like EVERY big reviewer out there whored out themselves to EA. This is fucking disgusting.

Why have I only just discovered your existence! - the question I have been asking myself for the past 5 hours. You Sir, are a true wordsmith and philosopher.

Cyrodils different environments might not have blended smoothly, at least you physically moved from one to the next. The only reason the transition between landscapes in DA:I isn't noticeable, is because there's loading screens in between. You just teleport from one local environment to another.

Sorry but Oblivion does not have the "blends poorly" problem everyone says it did. That is only true in the north for the "like Skyrim" section where you practically see the line in the ground not-snow to snow. Everywhere is much better, and as good or better than how similar things are handled or hidden in Skyrim. Of course, most of the people who make the "blends poorly" claim try to have their cake and eat it too and then also say the over world is too similar over all. Well, how the game blend oh so poorly (enough to be mentioned for years to come) and the world be too similar at the same time? It can't. You cannot have obvious lines in the ground if what's on both sides is the same or overly similar. So pick one. If anything, and more accurately, the look of Oblivion is perhaps mostly green and high fantasy, but I will take that over the grey that Skyrim has in it's attempt at low-fantasy, GoT-chasing boringness. Not that any of this really matters - just like ever other ES game (yes, including the overly worshipped Marrowind), you need at least two dozen mods to make the experience worth clinging to for any length of time.

Quick mention before finishing this: Liliana can listen to you and let that sister live. I forget the exact trigger/trigger sequence but IIRC it involves letting some protester or w/e live.

If I had to choose between open and varied environments with simplified and linear quests, and closed off and repetitive areas with non linear and consequential quests, I'd go with the latter any day. I hope Bioware find some sort of middle ground.

Eventually, Noah will return to Dragon Age. Hopefully.

I was sort of disappointed how all the allies and agents the Inquisitor gathered never really payed off in the final act. You do see your allies hang around in Skyhold and may even have then do missions in the war room but in game they never directly help you. The game seemed to be setting up that there would be an all out assault on Corypheus's force, but right before the final mission the idea is thrown out.

On PCs being used as NPCs in a sequel: There's an old strategy war game called Ogre Battle. There's a sequel, and in it you'll meet up with the player character from the first game, as well as a number of his closest companions you met in the original title. They can join your army if you meet their requirements, and I greatly enjoyed the experience. Also, you really need to balance your volume in these videos.

It would be really cool if this video was reuploaded. This time with sound.

Noah how long is your editing process? I'm looking at the Mass effect look through and just shivering at the thought of the editing work. Also what software do you use?

So I played the Dragon Age franchise in the order of 1 -> 3 -> 2. I loved Origins; it was one of the few games that stayed in my mind for a while after finishing it, because the road to the end had been so awesome and heart-wrenching. I didn't play 2 at the time because 3 came out, and I'd been assured 2 was a dud anyway. I started Inquisition. It was fun. I liked the more contemporary combat, though it did feel like MMO-lite to me. I also whinged a fair bit about the reduced tactical options (I still remember how much the tactical camera scrolling thing pissed me off). Like you said, this part of the game is decently-paced. I did quite a bit of the sidequests and they were boring, but the story was heating up. This was good. And then it happened: the big attack. Things were going up in flames, there were enemies and screaming people everywhere, what a thrill! It all culminated in a reveal of the game's Big Bad, who smacked me around like a rag doll and made me feel puny. Then, with a few determined lines from my character as they snatched the husk of victory from the jaws of defeat, I was dropped into the unknown. My character awoke, hurt and alone, in a claustrophobic and icy cave. Battling through wolves and whatever else I encountered, I felt for my character as they struggled and limped their way to freedom. Only to end up in an icy waste, stalked by howling wolves and battered by a snowstorm. It truly felt like we were both on our last legs when, finally, mercifully, a glimpse of civilization glimmered on the horizon. My companions were a most welcome sight. "That was great!" I said to myself as my character was tended to by their friends. "I felt very immersed in that whole sequence of events! I can't wait to see what happens next." And then, unfortunately, the rest of the game happened. There were some high points of course; I still remember how impressed I was at the scope of the masked ball. Fast forward a few years, and a very good friend of mine (the one who recommended me some Bioware games in the first place), tells me to play Dragon Age 2. She clearly states it has faults, but that it's smaller-scale and goes for a different type of story. She knew I'd like that, and lo and behold, I did. Yeah, much of the cast wasn't all that interesting to me, the combat felt a bit off, the way the game reused dungeon assets was *insulting*, the game had timeskips but didn't seem to put any effort into showing the passage of time in its environment design, and the ending was eh. But I had fun, I liked its setting and ideas, the sidequests were less of a shopping list, and *at least it didn't make me bend over to pick up plants a hundred fucking times.* My only regret is that Aveline isn't romanceable because fuck me sideways, that no-nonsense woman and her glorious chin just *did* it for me. I mercy-killed her husband and she stood by me for seven bloody years! She was right by my side when all hell broke loose, swatted a javelin out of mid-air because she was always looking out for me. And I was right by *her* side when she found love for a second time. Though frustrating for me as a player, I was happy to see *her* happy. She was my *buddy*. Uh, so I've run out of steam now, but I guess the moral of the story is: please give me more women with badass chins, and please learn that game length does not equal quality. Kingdoms of Amalur could've told you that.

I was SO looking forward to your take on this!

Excellent review as always. One minor issue I had was that you were hard to understand near the end when you were talking over the epilogue.

Another damn good video Noah. One slight critique, towards the end (the part where you talk about the epilogue specifically) it seems like the sound for the in-game footage is mixed too high, to the point it almost drowns out your voice.

Man, I hope you try out The Witcher 3 someday. i'd love to hear your thoughts on it. It's focus on storytelling (as opposed to having loot be the end in and of itself like in Inquisition) is so darn refreshing after spending a month on Inquisition's fetch quests. Even the smallest quests in TW3 seem to have a narrative and emotional payoff. No idea how CDprojeckt pulled it off. A remarkable RPG game.

Just in case ya didn't know, Iron Bull was voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.

This was a really good review and I agree with everything you've said here. I was so excited to see some of the war table missions at first. Searching for the Hero of Fereldan, the Varric murder quests, what happens to the Lavellan Clan. Then I find out they are just boring time waiting missions. I can't begin to explain how disappointed I was.

*Dragon Age: Inquisition* really needed to come out about a good YEAR before *The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt* rather than just a mere handful of weeks... Geralt's long shadow completely loomed over this whole game from the first moment of its release, it never really had a chance to stand on its own, outside of that shade... - I have no idea how well DA:I actually sold, I hope it did good numbers for 'em... Poor old Bioware have taken a royal pounding these last few years, (oftentimes for good reason, to be fair) but I believe there's still a great creative company there, underneath the (1) obvious in-house egotistic mis-managing and (2) the EA publisher meddling / product butchering into saleable chunks etc

I'd love if they would Re-Master DA:I - Ripping out all the awful menial busy-work, interminable elf-root harvesting and cardboard cut-out side activities, and melded the main game narrative with all its expansions / DLC's into one beautiful, truly epic whole (It'd still be like at least 100 hours long!) '@.@' - It might just be Bioware's masterpiece...

Leliana's progress can be turned in a softer direction, but you have to choose right for all three key plot points for her, and I have heard the first one is very easy to miss. It can have an effect on the epilogue card for a Divine Leliana too, with the hard version being pretty harsh and the soft one more compassionate. I think Iron Bull's role becomes a good bit more interesting when you see how he acts in Tresspasser, if you let the Chargers die. That particular plot is a light into the Qun.

44:17 Be aware, Morrigan's monologue audio level is so loud overpowers your narrating. Your own audio level is so low it's hard to hear you over her talking.