This is what I call a complementary review and it is meant for people that have read professional reviews already and know what the game is about.
Let's start by saying that if you loved DA:Origins and hated DA2 like myself, you will like this game, but not actually love it. And if you liked DA2 then you can just stop reading this and go buy it already! :D
The Story try to tie in events of the previous 2 games and I find that it does more work to try to legitimized the “events” of DA2 (which in my opinion was nothing more then a DLC), by doing that it feels more like a fantasy soap opera then an Epic Saga. If you loved the story of the first one and you found pride in being a Gray Warden fighting a Blight...well let's just say you'll feel let down by Bioware on this one.
The Lore doesn't feel as interesting. Matters like the struggle of the Elves once a great Empire and now slaves and servants to humans or the fall of the Dwarven Thaigs to the Darkspawn and their cruel Cast System, The Legion of Dead and so forth are all things that fascinated me. I loved to explore ancient Elven Temples and Dwarven Thaigs to learn about the Lore in DA:O but in DAI it's not as in depth and interesting. It just teases you with the possibility of learning more about the Old Gods, the Maker and the Tevinter Magisters causing the First Blight which keeps it interesting for a while....till you realize they don't really know where to go with it.......
Dialog choices as in DA2 (as well as ME2 & 3) are purely cosmetic, not much of an actual impact on the game.
Many of the characters are interesting to interact with and it will be easy to care about them. Although I personally avoid the romancing part, it just doesn't feel necessary. I prefer to keep it friendly and fun.
The Graphics are pretty, the landscape is varied and fun to explore, from the oceans to the deserts and forests you can see that Bioware has put a lot of work into making a very appealing and detailed world. They also clearly have been eyeballing the competition, if you played The Witcher 2 you'll find many similarities in style. It's not an open world but it is very big.
What I find disappointing is that in spite of so much more detail and colors it does a poor job at conveying the gritty look of Darkspawn. There is no way to discern an Hurlock Alpha from an Avvar Barbarian.
I remember dreading going into the Deep Roads in Dragon Age: Origins. They really looked and felt like a scary, dark and dangerous place. Darkspawn had a very menacing look and when one or two Hurlock Alpha jumped at you, your first impulse was to run. Here you need to target them to have visual “printed” confirmation from the HUD that it is one of them before you just go about plowing them. The Fade also looks prettier then in DA:O where you couldn't wait to get out of it.
One of the things I was most anxious about was to explore familiar Ferelden places with a new graphic engine and I have to say although Redcliffe looks good, it's clearly NOT the same town we explored in DA:O. The main square with the Chantry is gone, the homes by the docks are also gone. The castle is no longer up the hills. The landscape is different so it's not a matter of saying the town was rebuild differently. It just is a different town.
There is a good variety of armors available, some looks better then others but there is really no difference in looks between a Unique piece and a common one of the same type, and after you have acquired a few schematics you'll be able to obliterate any specs from any Unique armors and weapons. This is actually very reminiscent of a Skyrim problem, so I hoped Bioware would have done it better 3 years later.....
I would have preferred that at least those Unique items would be more over powered and had an actual unique look. I guess they will try to sell those the DLC way! That's why they don't allow MODS for the PC version! Those guys do better work and they do it for free :(
Gameplay is fairly easy. I strongly recommend you play only the Nightmare setting. It may be difficult at the beginning when you are weak, forcing you to pick your fights wisely sort of like in Skyrim, but once you get around level 10, things will get easier and by the time you get closer to level 20 you'll be plowing anything. If you are a Knight Enchanter you can even go solo.
I like the looks of the spells and battling can be fun to watch, but honestly I never needed much micro management at all for my party. The tactical aspect can be completely overlooked, I even read from some reviews that on higher difficulty settings you need to strategies battles wisely....well let me tell you...the High Dragon from the Western Approach was less then an inch from its death when he finally killed my last party member on Nightmare, with me never giving them any orders. By then instead then reviving them I just finished it off solo. You can also get from this that the party AI it's not bad. Tanks will run straight at enemies taunting them and blocking the way, support mages will keep barriers up and damagers....will do range damage and stay at the back mostly.
By the time I reached the final battle I was a Level 23 so it was a very easy fight even on Nightmare, if you want more challenge, skip most side quests and stay beneath level 19.
The ending was not a total let down but disappointing...Nothing really Epic about the final battle, just another fight and not really satisfying to dispose of the Darkspawn Magister....
I often compared DA2 to a DLC follow up to Dragon Age: Awakening and I have to say Corypheus is very much reminiscent of the Architect.
You will also be treated to a Post-Credits Scene and it looks like the Soap Opera continues.....
Conclusion: just like we have seen in the Mass Effect trilogy, Bioware after the first one of the series which was a real RPG with a great Story developing in a very adult and interesting World, decided to dumb down RPG elements, story telling and combat tactics for an easier more action adventure oriented game. And with all the potential the World of Thedas had to rival J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, it ultimately feels small by comparison. I'm probably being too harsh, but I would say the new EA Bioware is comprised by very good designers and a large budget, but their better writers have moved somewhere else.......
Dragon Age Inquisition is a good game and (unlike DA2) worth playing more then once but it still makes you miss Dragon Age: Origins.
If you read all this you are nuts! But still not as crazy as going about writing it! :D