This game was going to get a 10 from me right up until I finished it and realized just how empty the game really was. And then it got a 6. Don't worry, there won't be any spoilers about ending details, just impressions. Also, if you already bought the game and won't be returning it, I'd suggest playing it first. Then if you want, read this review. If you're trying to decide whether to buy the game or not, this review might just save you $70.
For reference, I have finished one 65 hour playthrough, with a Male Qunari Mage. And not once did anyone call me Saarabaas. Let down. I also used the non-British accent voice, because it seemed more Qunari. Anyway...
Combat
The Good
The combat is the best of the 3 games. It's faster than the horribly slow DA:O, and it's slower than the ridiculous DA2. But really, all Bioware did was reuse most of main attack animations from DA2, and just slowed down their play speeds. Regardless, the combat is better than DA:O or DA2.
The Bad
Combat is, however, more boring than either ME:2 or ME:3's combat. The combat WILL NOT carry the game like ME3's did. In ME3, I wanted to find guys to fight just b/c the combat was so fast paced and exciting. This is NOT the case with DA:I. Combat was just something I had to do. Not really enjoyable.
The Ugly
The tactical camera makes a return, but annoyingly, all roofs stay permanently attached to the buildings. Normally this isn't a big deal, but when you're trying to use the tactical camera in a cave or a tunnel, it's awful. You can't see a thing, and even panning the camera down doesn't really *fix* the issue, it just makes it like a quasi-turn based version of the main combat.
Characters
The Good
The characters are all pretty well done. And frankly, they're more authentic than in most games. For example, when you pick up Sera (the thief), unless you're a big anarchy fan, you probably won't like her. She struck me as being an immature brat who was capable enough to actually harm people she shouldn't be. She views herself as a Robin Hood like character, but let's just say it didn't feel that way to me. I've never actually disliked a character in a Bioware game, and to be honest, the more I disliked Sara, the more I felt whoever wrote her did a good job. I don't think she's meant to be likeable. Unless you're a "life's not fair, the man's got me down" type sociopath. In which case, you'll probably love her.
The Bad
That said, not all the characters are that interesting. When I first heard Cole was a fade spirit trapped in the real world, I was like "Cool! Justice 2.0!" I mean, who didn't want to see less Anders and more Justice during DA2? Justice (or Vengeance) was a badass. Cole is... not. At least as far as I can tell. I didn't talk to him that much, because he struck me as another whiny kid. To be honest, (and I'll say this delicately) the closest analog to Cole outside the game would be a mentally handicapped kid. Cole's about 20 years old or so, but his views on things would feel MUCH more congruous with a 7 year old. I was expecting Justice 2.0. I got Cole. I was less than excited by this turn of events. Maybe he turns cool after your first few conversations with him and you do his little quest, but I sort of doubt it.
The Ugly
Why does your race have so little impact on your relation with your characters? I was a freakin' Tal-Vashoth, but not only does the Iron Bull (a high ranking member of the Qunari secret police) join up with my Inquisition, he doesn't even care that we're supposed to be sworn enemies. Aside from his opening introduction and one dialog branch, he doesn't even seem to notice. Now, maybe that's due to his "loose" adherence to the Qun, but the Qunari don't really care either (as you can tell from his reports, which he happily passes on to one of his people's sworn enemies).
Also, it'd be nice to actually meet some of the characters from your origin story that keep popping up on the war table. They know you, but you'll never even meet them. A far cry from DA:O's excellent openings.
Oh, and my character's voice acting sucks. Everyone else did a good job, but remember how everyone complained Tom Cruise was "wooden" in his performance during Valkyrie? But remember how it made sense that his character should be that way? My character was just as wooden. Even when he delivered joke lines. Or love lines. Or flirt lines. Basically anything where he wasn't pissed off, he was weak. I have NEVER hated a voice over for my main character before. Male Hawke was fantastic. Male Shep was great. Female Hawke, not so good, but as long as she stuck to nice dialog options, she sounded genuine. Male Inquisitor non-British voice - pure crap 95% of the time. I feel bad for the guy, he might be a good voice actor, but listening to my guy's complete bungling of his inflection was worse than listening to Avaline trying to flirt with Donnic. It brought back memories of Hawke saying "Ugh. Painful." Yes, Hawke. I now feel your pain.
Story
The Good
Let's face it. This is a Bioware game. We expect a quality story from a game with Bioware's name on it, even if most of us really know that Bioware died when EA took them over and their founders left. While there are still flashes of brilliance, the spark of life is gone. Am I mixing too many metaphors? Anyway, I won't spoil what my favorite part of the story is, but I will say it happens when you're choosing between templars and mages, if you pick mages. That particular part of the story was Grade A work. And it's about the only part that was.
CAUTION: DON'T READ THIS NEXT PART OF MY REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME YET, AND HAVE EITHER BOUGHT IT ALREADY, OR PLAN TO BUY IT REGARDLESS. THERE ARE NO SPOILERS HERE, BUT YOU'LL BE HAPPIER FOR HAVING NOT READ IT BEFORE YOU DO A PLAYTHROUGH.
Still here? Ok, cool.
The Bad
LAST WARNING.
Ok, here goes. Nothing you do matters. At all. Remember how in DA:O if you picked the werewolves, you'd get to see werewolves in the final battle? And how there would be a story slide show pane that talked about their fate? I remember that too. You're probably thinking that given DA:I's rave reviews, that'd be all throughout the game, right? Wrong. Imagine if after you picked the werewolves, neither the werewolves nor the Dalish showed up to help you in the final fight. Also imagine that there's no slide show pane. And while you're at it, imagine you never see or hear about werewolves again until after you leave the Bercillian forest. That's DA:I.
This is a Bioware game. Or it's supposed to be. HINT: It's not. Not really. Did you close all the Fade rifts? No one noticed. Did you leave every rift open that you could? No one cares. Demons aren't roaming the lands because you didn't bother to close more than 2 regions worth of fade rifts. Honestly, this game ended like a MMO plays throughout. A series of quests that don't affect anything outside of your little gated main-quest areas. Except you don't even have the luxury of gated main-quest areas.
Decided to help the mages over the templars? Notice how all the bad guys are red templars? Ah ha, you're thinking. This is like the branching quests in the Witcher 2 which happened depending on whether you side with Roche or Iorveth. Next time I'll pick the templars and I'll be fighting red mages, right? Well, sort of. The bad guys look different (they're mages now, not templars), but it really doesn't make that big of a difference, since you rarely ever see your templar or mage allies doing much of anything.
Think helping out on the war table will matter? It won't. Think saving a particular group of potential allies will matter? Nope.
I can't stress this enough: you THINK your actions have consequences, right up until you finish the game and you're left thinking, "That's it?" I could see the ending coming a mile away, but right up until the credits rolled and I was standing back in Skyhold with nothing to do did I realize the game wasn't trying to cleverly lull me into a false sense of security. That limp mass you just finished? That was the ending. It was so anti-climactic, I couldn't believe it even was the ending until all doubt had left.
The story is all smoke and mirrors. This is an RPG, and nothing you do affects the game world in even the slightest way. What kind of RPG has a static world regardless of your choices? A bad one, that's what. And it's a shame too. This game had a lot of potential. Honestly, I figured I was going to be playing this game for months. Now I'm debating whether to even play it through a second time or just trade it in for store credit. There's almost no replay value, because even if you pick different choices, they don't affect the ending. Bioware is full of crap by claiming this game has 40 different endings. It has one, and while it's not as ridiculous as ME3's ending with the starchild, it's even weaker. And after the Extended Cut DLC for ME3, ME3's endings are better. Even with the starchild. Last point on this part, because I really want to talk about a game with an ending I actually liked: Know how you could carry a romance with Miranda (the best romance option ever, imo) into ME3? And if you got the Citadel DLC they really fleshed that relationship out? Then how you think you died at the end if you pick Anderson's choice? I was literally thinking, "What's Miranda going to do?" Then I see Shep take a breath and I'm like "I'm coming, Miranda!" Sound cool? Then you better go play ME3. Because there isn't anything even remotely close to that here.
The Ugly
I think The Bad section mostly covered this part too, but I'll say something different (but equally crappy) here. The final battle is in a location that doesn't make sense. You'd think that you'd get a really cool, plot specific place to fight the bad guy. Like maybe at the location he's been trying to get to this entire game? Nope. Maybe at your badass fortress? Nope. Well at least he'll have allies, right? Again, nope. Is he making a last stand after you've wiped out all his troops? Apparently, but for how tough he's supposed to be, his last stand is more limp than freshly cooked Ramen.
Also, I actually got bored playing this game. Like, really bored. I skipped entire areas because I felt no reason to explore them. And that didn't matter either. After you start picking up on the fact that the areas add anything for completing them, they feel like a colossal waste of time. Which they kind of are.
All it would have taken was for Bioware to tie your choices to SOMETHING TANGIBLE and this game would have gotten a 9. Like I said throughout the review, I thought all my choices mattered right up until the end. The final feeling wasn't contentment (like with ME1) or resolution (like with DAO), and it wasn't even anger (like with ME3). It was just a hollow "what was the point?" feeling. NOT a good way to end a major RPG.
Without replay value this game's value drops like a rock. And make no mistake, this game has almost no replay value. And to think, this RPG couldn't get interconnected story elements, but it could get multiplayer. I read that Bioware initially planned DA:I to be multiplayer only. They should have done it. This game has less replay than an MMO. If you needed more proof that Bioware was well and truly dead, look no further. This is it.
Final Verdict: Would not have bought the game without the false hope I had when I bought it. Worth buying, but probably not what you're expecting. Replay value isn't what it should be, and you might feel tricked at the end of the game. And not in a good way.
Will play through once more, because I want to, with all different DA: Keep imports. Maybe that will be noticeable, maybe not. But I want to really be sure. Major stuff clearly doesn't matter though.