The Addiction – Dragon Age: Inquisition Review

<p><em>Dragon Age<&sol;em> is a series long-beloved by RPG fans everywhere&period; Rarely will you find its equal in gore&comma; depth&comma; and tradition&comma; three elements that have powered the story since 2009&period; The previous two <em>Dragon Age<&sol;em> games have pleased reviewers and players alike&comma; and for good reason&semi; <em>Dragon Age&colon;<&sol;em> <em>Origins<&sol;em> and <em>Dragon Age II<&sol;em> introduced wonderfully engaging stories&comma; coupled with smooth combat and just the amount of choice-based dialogue&period; <em>Dragon Age&colon; Inquisition<&sol;em> is much like its brothers in several of these ways&comma; but falls somewhat short in a few key areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The medieval feel and a choice-based storyline helps to bring <em>Dragon Age&colon; Inquisition<&sol;em> to life&comma; but the true breath of fresh air lies in the graphic quality of the game&period; In a word&comma; the world in which you wander is breathtaking&period; Trees look like trees instead of pixels&semi; villages look like people could actually inhabit them&period; The people with whom you speak&comma; and even those whose lives you end&comma; are all incredibly lifelike&period; NPC believability only goes so far&comma; however&period; No matter how pretty they look&comma; they’ll never look quite <em>right<&sol;em> – mouth movements are awkward&comma; and dialogue is choppy at best&period; If a person pauses mid-sentence&comma; they aren’t necessarily done talking&comma; but rather waiting for another person to interrupt their sentence&period; It’s a minor annoyance at most&comma; but it’s one that happens constantly throughout the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;3dmgame&period;com&sol;uploads&sol;allimg&sol;141124&sol;154&lowbar;141124043533&lowbar;1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"562" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Story plays a definite part throughout the campaign&comma; mainly because the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Herald of Andraste” &lpar;your character&rpar; spends a large majority of the main and side quests closing &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;breaches&comma;” recruiting others to the Inquisition&comma; and building relationships that can turn into strong friendships or romances&period; It’s fairly easy to assume that if you don’t enjoy reading or engaging in dialogue&comma; you won’t enjoy the game&period; It’s dialogue-heavy and choice-heavy – an element that seems strange&comma; considering your choices are usually of little consequence&period; A few lofty decisions can change the course of the game&comma; but for the most part&comma; decisions exist for the sole purpose of building a romantic relationship with one of your numerous companions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Relationships are a fun element to the game&comma; but difficult to engage in if you’re a heterosexual male character&period; There are only two female romance options for males&comma; the most obvious being your first follower&comma; a woman named Cassandra&period; The attempts to build a relationship with Cassandra actually became somewhat of a joke between my husband and me&comma; because no matter what decision he made&comma; we’d almost invariably see the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Cassandra Slightly Disapproves” notice pop up&period; If his character ever did decide to switch teams&comma; we’d have a smorgasbord of takers&comma; but in the meantime&comma; it seems The Inquisitor is still looking for love in all the wrong places&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;eaassets02-a&period;akamaihd&period;net&sol;origin-com-store-damassets&sol;content&sol;dam&sol;dotcom&sol;Assets&sol;Resources&sol;Image&sol;NewsArticle&sol;dai&lowbar;101014&lowbar;battle-HUD&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1287" height&equals;"724" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Combat is the second biggest element to the game&comma; and it is very similar in action to that of the previous <em>Dragon Age<&sol;em>s&period; For the most part&comma; it is smooth&comma; fluid&comma; and satisfying&comma; but there is a steep learning curve along with it&period; The game could be played for 50 hours straight&comma; but your character will only level up a few times&period; Bears and high-level Spawn are nearly impossible to kill in lower levels&comma; not to mention the near-invincible dragons present throughout the world&period; No matter how good you become at tossing out combo attacks&comma; it won’t do anything to a high-level enemy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;media1&period;gameinformer&period;com&sol;imagefeed&sol;screenshots&sol;DragonAgeInquisition&sol;DAI&lowbar;Sept&lowbar;29&lowbar;5&lowbar;WM&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1278" height&equals;"719" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Banter among other characters is a secondary element to the game&comma; but it does make the long walks a bit more enjoyable&period; As you wander Ferelden and Skyhold &lpar;among several other locations&rpar;&comma; your companions will banter about the war&comma; the sights&comma; and their opinions&period; This can become quite amusing once combat is initiated – while killing several antagonistic Templars or Mages&comma; your companions will mutter things like&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;they will stand in the fire&comma; and complain that it is hot&comma;” or &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;just let me do it&excl;” Still&comma; as is typical of PCs and NPCs&comma; they have a bad habit of blocking your path&comma; alerting enemies&comma; or engaging in combat you’re trying to avoid&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Overall playablity of the game is high&period; Even through the annoyances and difficulty&comma; the game itself is extremely gratifying&period; Nuances in movement and combat are generally funny rather than frustrating&comma; with minor <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;cEVO&lowbar;QKNWJ0" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">glitches<&sol;a> galore that entertain rather than discourage&period; It is not a game for newcomers&comma; nor is it a game for those looking for something casual to pass the time&period; It is demanding&comma; difficult&comma; and heavy&semi; time&comma; brainpower&comma; and skill must all be dedicated to it if you want a result&period; In saying that&comma; however&comma; those things are exactly what make the game so addicting – nothing is quite as gratifying as destroying an enemy you’ve attempted to defeat ten times before&period; Regardless of problems&comma; <em>Dragon Age&colon; Inquisition<&sol;em> is one of the most deeply entertaining games of the year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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