Dragon Age: Inquisition Review - Game Critics

GCritics:
"Dragon Age: Inquisition follows this formula to a tee, and the result is both one of Bioware's most enjoyable and most maddening games.

Things get off to a muddled start. The player's character has mysteriously acquired a green mark on their left hand, the result of an explosion of unknown origins. After being initially blamed for the explosion, I was put in charge of the Inquisition (who, me?) and then dumped into a massive zone with about a zillion quest markers and told to get cracking on tasks for the cause."

[shammgod]

terrible review

[joab777]

I don't care what he writes, this is my GotY.

[thekhurg]

It's almost everyone's GOTY - this tool though ... LOL 6.5/10 = review written for drama and website hits.

[Canary]

It's actually a decent review. Not great, but better than most of the stuff that pops up on N4G. Don't hate the writer because he or she failed to arrive at a score you approve of.

The simple fact of the matter is that DAI is a game that involves a LOT of tedious gameplay. You'll spend most of your time wandering mostly-empty wilderness areas, collecting resources, hunting down lore bits, performing fetch quests, playing simple mini-games, and so on. One's enjoyment of Inquisition is therefore dependent largely on whether or not one enjoys that kind of play.

Personally, I love it. That kind of thing makes Inquisition feel more like the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate than Origins ever was. But it's not for everyone--and that's okay.

[thorstein]

Do you really want to defend this guy or are you the article's author?

Let's begin with the first idiom in the description: "Dragon Age: Inquisition follows this formula to a tee"

Follows what? And why is the destination a tee shirt?

If the guy can't even get a simple idiom correct "To a T" then how can anything he writes even remotely be relevant?

This is obviously a trolling review as the guy followed the tired formula of:

1) Take a well received game
2) claim it isn't what it actually is
3) give low review score
4) garner hits.

This is known as clickbait.

[Kingdomcome247]

@Thorstein- Lol. The dismantling is now complete.

[Canary]

I was defending the sentiments expressed, not the writing or grammar.

And a mediocre score is not a low score. A 6.5 is only clickbait if you're a fanboy.

[Blastoise]

Seems about right. Haven't enjoyed a Bioware game in years

[fullmetal156]

Escape dead island got the same score from them and this is leagues better than that.

[Christopher]

***What is the Inquisition? At that point, I had no idea.***

They specify exactly what it is right after they say "Inquisition" in the first cut scene in Haven...

***All of this happens very quickly, and it was difficult to get a sense of who my character was and how she fit into these events.***

I'm not sure this reviewer should be playing games with something more than simplistic concepts of character roles in video games. It's absolutely obvious what the character's role is and how they fit in. Heck, everyone is screaming about it after the prologue from one end of the world to the other. How you miss your goal in the game is beyond my understanding.

***WTF: It sure is convenient that we found this giant castle with nobody living in it***

If only there was a reason for it. If only there was something like a blight to give reason to why everyone was killed and the ramparts left crumbling. If only the concept was that the people in the outer fringes of society had moved recently to major cities to not only recover from a blight and now a massive war between templars and mages.

If only there was some way to explain it.

[Antifan]

He does have a point on the "everything happens so quickly" part. Not even 15-30 minutes into the game and I'm somehow the leader of the inquisition. But that's very minor for me. The only major problem I have with DA: inquisition is the larger amount of quest and features they drop on you at once. ME2 and Skyrim had this problem. The game is a 9/10 for sure. The reason why I love it because it reminds me so much of origins, but origins had a better quest system.

[Christopher]

***Not even 15-30 minutes into the game and I'm somehow the leader of the inquisition.***

To avoid spoilers, you're not the leader 15-30m into the game. You may not have gotten to a certain point in the game to understand the major difference. There is no leader of the inquisition. Cassandra and Leliana, technically, are equals in the Chantry, but they mention multiple times that this no longer matters due to what happens at the beginning of the game. They essentially hold your opinion equal to their own, but you are not the leader.

You're called something else because of your ability to close the rifts. This title has nothing to do with the Inquisition but is specific to you and why you have any say at all in the Inquisition to begin with.

The problem with the reviewer is that he either didn't listen to anything he was being told in the game or he just skipped all the cut scenes and ignored the story entirely. Otherwise, the mass majority of his issues with the story and why things are happening would have been fully answered for him. As a person who is reviewing an RPG, that's kind of a sign that you shouldn't be reviewing it in the first place.

***The only major problem I have with DA: inquisition is the larger amount of quest and features they drop on you at once. ME2 and Skyrim had this problem. ***

If you're not used to RPGs, I can see how it might be cumbersome. But you can ignore the mass majority of side quests entirely in the game. But, the mass majority of side quests are in the same regions as the main quest elements.

[Tempest317]

You don't actually become the Inquisitor (leader of the inquisition) until you close the breach, and theat specific quest alone takes your specified time frame. It really takes a couple hours to get there, if you haul balls to get it done. I dont think thats really that fast, especially considering that realistically you will have done more than only story missions, and spent more than just a couple hours

[thorstein]

If there was an AWESOME bubble, I would have selected it.

That post is so funny, intelligent, well said, and interesting!

[Canary]

To be fair, they present the Inquisition very poorly. You have to go through a lot of optional dialog and read a lot of lore to really understand what it is.

It's really clumsy how they present it. Just from the story scenes, you'd never know that Justinia created the Inquisition prior to her death, only it was secret; nor do you learn the historical significance of the Inquisition until you recruit and speak to whats-her-name. Nor do you learn that the Inquisition was founded long before the conclave and that the framing device of DA2 was all about Cassandra trying to find a leader for the group.

[Christopher]

***To be fair, they present the Inquisition very poorly. You have to go through a lot of optional dialog and read a lot of lore to really understand what it is. ***

They say what the Inquisition is for and why in that first cut scene. If you want a history of it, that's different. They also mention before that the status of the Chanty, the Templars, and the Circle. All of that is given and is why they enact Inquisition.

But, the reviewer said he had no clue what it was about. They say exactly what it is about in that first cut scene when Cassandra claims that the Inquisition is being enacted. I'd rather not spoil it here, but they have two specific goals that they explicitly mention in that scene.

If the reviewer couldn't understand what it is and how the story develops in a game where I am completely able to understand what is happening, I must question his or her ability to understand so much more about the game.

It feels to me that this reviewer went in negatively and stayed negative without an open mind to learn and play the game as it is intended. It doesn't seem like the reviewer likes games with a lot of history and context that you can learn. That makes for an awkward review for a game that is based around such a thing.

[Ezz2013]

Well said

this game is easy 9/10 for me
and it's the first time i play Dragon Age game

But there is one thing that bother me though
i bought the DLC and after 20 hours i still can't find the DLC Armor
where is Skyhold ?!

[Dreamcaster]

Skyhold opens up after the first major incident of the game. Probably about 15-20 hours into it.

[Christopher]

If you mean the Dragon armor, you should get it in the first part of Haven very early on.

When you unlock Skyhold, you should obtain new recipes for making your own DLC armor from the smithy there.

[CaspuR]

I loved dragon age inquisition, easily a 9.5 out of 10 for me would be a 10 if it wasn't for the glitches.

[Maxor]

This is a prime example of what happens when you have an idiot reviewing a good game. He doesn't like exploring the massive zones and the open nature of the game because it's confusing and feels like a MMO to him. He prefers gated corridors to guide the player through content like cattle.

Thankfully for RPG fans, Inquisition is not that game.

[il-JumperMT]

I bet its too open world for the reviewer to handle.

[souga_houjou_jin]

GOTY 2014

[BigShotSmoov007]

6.5 for Dragon Age? LMAO......This websites credility is shot to hell.

[bloodybutcher]

Well, everybody is entitled to their opinion. I don't really care, i'm waiting for my dai copy to arrive within few days(hopefully before the weekend). Can't wait to do some inqusitioning xD

[zero_gamer]

Smells like a fishy review to me. I've been playing this on PS4 and really got hooked within in the first 30 minutes.

Yep, not going to click on this site, sorry.

[gangsta_red]

"As a result, the first ten hours or so were an absolute snoozefest. Walking around in the first area (the Hinterlands) with characters I knew nothing about doing missions I knew nothing about for reasons I knew nothing about is the exact opposite of what I consider a strong opening."

O_o is he playing the same game I am!?

[cplus]

This reviewer should stick to something within his capabilities as clearly the game is too complicated for him. I would suggest the reviewer start with coloring books and try to color within the lines, although I feel even this may be pushing his cognitive abilities to the limits.

[TheFanboySlayer]

*sigh* didn't even waste my time reading this review....knew he would be dumb.

[qwerty676]

hmm well after reading his review some of his complaints seem warranted,

theres a lot of slogging in this game and unfortunately you'll be doing a lot of that if you ever want to have a chance in this game, you usually cant just jump from one story mission to the next or you'll hit a brick wall quick.

and all these side quests you do, area all "mmo" style very basic. combine that with the constant loot grab, you'll literally be spending half the game just looting stuff over and over. it does drag the game down a bit for me.

the story was a mixed bag, sometimes i think the cutscenes drag out a little too long, i could skip them but then i'd be left confused.

despite that im still enjoying it though

[Christopher]

***you usually cant just jump from one story mission to the next or you'll hit a brick wall quick. ***

Actually, you can. The first major plot element, for example, only requires levels 4-7. If you do all the storyline quests up to that point, you will be a minimum of level 4.

The same is true for other main story quests. Which, by the way, include closing all the rifts to gain power to open new quest areas.

***and all these side quests you do, area all "mmo" style very basic. combine that with the constant loot grab, you'll literally be spending half the game just looting stuff over and over. it does drag the game down a bit for me. ***

1. Very basic? There are multi-leveled side quests and there are simple side quests. I wouldn't just outright call them all basic and far from MMO since they are not generic but specific to your singular storyline.

2. Hyperbole aside, complaining about looting in a game like this (or Fallout or Skyrim or the like, which have the same type of loot systems as this game) is akin to me complaining about shooting too much in CoD or Battlefield.

[anticlimax]

"I wouldn't just outright call them all basic and far from MMO since they are not generic but specific to your singular storyline."

There are a lot of 'put this plant next to the waterfall',
'collect ten dawnstones and five bloodstones' and
'kill the bigger badder version of a regular animal' quests out there.

Not all of them, but there is a great deal of sidequests that I find pretty generic and adding the line 'do it for the inquisition' doesn't make it less so.

[Christopher]

@anticlimax: Wouldn't use requisitions as an example of questing. They're optional ways to increase power and that's about it.

I don't find the quests in the game anymore generic than what I've experienced in similar RPGs (Fallout, Skyrim, Amalur, etc.).

[arbitor365]

"Game critics" has always been awful. ive known that for 15 years, back when they gave Legend of Dragoon a 5/10 and called it a "FF7 ripoff."

I dont know how this site still exists.

[Sketchy_Galore]

"However, the most galling thing about those first ten hours was that it was entirely unnecessary. It's possible to do everything required to advance the story within two hours, which would have been preferable to wandering around the Hinterlands without any real sense of what I was supposed to be doing. Nowhere in all the quest markers was it apparent that I could leave at any time."

That's.... that's an odd complaint right there. Especially after the previous paragraph being all pretty much a complaint that the game forced you into 10 hours of MMO style quests right off the bat. I'll agree that the huge amount of sidequests so early on can be a little jarring but you'd have to be completely new to videogames or simply a little slow to not even recognise that those ARE sidequests until you've finished all 10 hours of them.

It's like complaining that you spent 50 hours playing taxi missions in GTA V because a notification popped up the first time you got in a cab telling you you can do those missions to earn money. Surely at least a little of the blame can be placed on your shoulders for making a mistake about what you were supposed to be doing rather than it all being the game's fault for not explicitly stating that those very sidequesty quests you got on the side were sidequests.

[Kingdomcome247]

I literally just got home from purchasing this, I shan't be swayed.

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

Don't be swayed :D, I've put around 50 Hours in, loving it, far from the end atm but i'm already looking forward to a second play-through!

[Pintheshadows]

No, just no. I respect that it is just his opinion but this is in now way shape or form a 6.5. Just, no.

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

Lmao there's opinions and then there's writing using a stick and shit for ink.

[Xavior_Reigns]

6.5? I definitely don't agree with the score but to each his/ her own. I was pleasantly surprised by this game, I had serious doubts on whether Bioware would rise from their slump. Luckily in my opinion they did, now its a matter if they can continue to improve and trash the "EAware" label some gave them in disdain.

[Lucreto]

Love this game so far.

I just got the castle and getting a huge Suikoden vibe from the game.

[rmedtx]

That's a BS review. I've been playing the game for 60+ hours and I absolutely love it!

[DafunkyRebel]

Because its not Call of Duty or an easy game for the reviewer

[TekKing]

This review is accurate. The only reason it got higher scores from other reviews is because it panders to minorities rather than trying to create a good story with believable characters. It's the reason Bioware sucks now and DA:O was the only good Dragon Age.

[urwifeminder]

Never played it but agree with the score cause Dragons are weak and fairy like.

[rextraordinaire]

The only reason this game deserves to have lowered scores is because it's, at the moment, a huge glitch and bugs fest.The game is solid, and once patched it will be one of the best western RPG of recent years.