Dragon Age: Inquisition

Since I recently beat The Jaws of Hakkon DLC, I figured I'd retrace my own steps for this wonderful experience and recount what sets it as a great example of a narrative to other RPGs I have played. I've been a big fan of JRPGs for the most part of my life and though this point might not be completely related to Dragon Age in itself, it speaks volumes about my feelings towards Western RPGs.

The Dragon Age series is the sole reason I have reevaluated my love for RPGs in general and have decided to embark on the Western RPG ship. With Japanese RPGs, the player is merely a spectator, deciding and thinking on what they prefer, it creates a barrier between the game and the player and for the most part the experience is quite a hit or a miss in terms of opinions. However, with Western RPGs, I've recently learned that the player is able to mold and reshape the experience over and over and not only that, the player is able to put themselves in the character's shoes and assuming their role as an important part of the plot.

The party members you will interact with. It will take at least two playthroughs to know them well.

This is why I mentioned this in a Dragon Age review, since the game pits the players in the role of the inquisitor. While this game might be aimed for both newcomers to the series and old fans, it really makes the experience all the more worthwhile for myself playing the role of the inquisitor. One of the best features of the game I wholeheartedly agreed with was the implementation of voice for the main Character. With the Hero of Ferelden, I felt a huge rift between my character and my own voice since he felt like a practice doll or a hypothetical hero to save the day.

Not only can I enjoy my experience now but I can have a completely customizable character that I can relate to based on my own decisions. To me, this was the best game last year and I was also overwhelmed by the impression I got that the series is far from its conclusion. Bioware really does a good job with creating thought-provoking and engaging characters so I had no worries about the plot or writing coming into it, but what about the rest? What sets it off from other current RPGs that puts it in a lesser rank?

It's a huge departure from playing Dragon Age II where the player is put in an open world map. Exploration is far more engaging but I could not brush off how many annoyances there were in it. Occasionally I'd notice that the roads are all fixed and I'd get stuck trying to climb a mountain that eventually throws me off to my death. Which got me thinking on the actual use of the jump button since it barely works. When I want to use my horse, I feel that traveling on foot is much faster. Either the animation of the horse running is slow or he is actually very slow. 

Combat is a great combination of the tactical aspect of Origins and the action of Dragon Age II. I definitely enjoyed my Sword n Shield class more than I imagined. There are a lot of combinations to approaching a fight and hybrid classes are also interesting. Being a tank was a lot of fun and I never thought fights would get tense and long up to 15 minutes. I'm sure if I were to be a damage dealing class, I would have had the same amount of fun but being the tank was all the more satisfying.

Combat is a great departure from previous games and fights last for a long time. Prepare for a great ride

I'd blindly recommend Dragon Age: Inquisition, it easily has one of the best plots and is a lot more engaging than its predecessor with minor annoyances to exploration that can break a player's involvement with the world and a simple combat system that is easily approachable from different angles. Multiplayer was a lot of fun as well and we all know the replayability value for a bioware game is always high.