When you hear of the 'best' RPGs, what do you hear about? Let me take a little guess...
My question is why did the Witcher 3 become wildly famous and popular when Witcher 2 was quite a niche game? What happened there that didn't happen to Dragon Age Inquisition? Something to make it jump from a niche game for a few to fame like Skyrim.
I can't answer this question without a lot of research and work, so instead I want to look at the positive (and maybe talk a little on the negatives too) aspects of the game. I will divide it into 4 sections:
I think that I can safely say one thing about the graphics in this game. They are amazing. They aren't the most visually stunning (although they are very close), but what gets me is the vast size of some of the areas. Many games drop off graphics in the distance, and you begin to get quite an ugly or basic scene when gazing into the far distance. However I have not noticed that at all in DAI. The graphics are solid in all ways, NPCs, the world, small textures, but not best in class in any way.
One thing however that does stand out to me are the effects. Spell effects in this game are amazing and pretty much eye-candy. When you get a group of 4 people together, involving a mage or two, an archer and a melee fighter you get some pretty amazing fights. If I had only one word to describe it, I would have to say 'epic'.
The world is incredibly massive. Do you see each of these small circles? Each and every one of those circles is a smaller map, an area you can explore. I can easily say that DAI has one of the biggest gaming worlds to date. Further though, this world is detailed and exciting. You are incentivised to explore by the achievements for finding all the points of interest in the area, along with closing all the portals and finding the secrets.
Secrets you say? Yes! The world is also covered in little secrets to find and read. Not only does this give you a fun activity, but it also brings you more into the game world through background lore.
Honestly I find it hard to fault the world in any way. I really can't. I wish I didn't have to fast travel between areas, but I do understand the hardware limitations, especially since this was also a console game. The world is beautifully crafted, and it is a joy to explore and discover what is hidden in it.
I don't want to spoil the story here, and nor will I. But I will say that the story wasn't particularly outstanding to me. It was quite similar to many RPGs in the way that you begin to essentially become the leader of a faction while fighting a hostile faction. The story wasn't bad, but it wasn't really great either.
But do you remember how I said the world was populated and a pleasure to explore? Well that world also has many small quests and tasks for the player to do. Each of these is well detailed and polished. There's camps of NPCs located around the world that hand out quests to the player, and there are also bigger sidequests which take you across zones.
What does make the story special to me though is the inclusion of party members. In DAI you can have up to three party members with you at any time. Whichever members you take with you, they will always bicker amongst themselves, creating a feeling of really being involved in the game. They also give you quests sometimes and this makes the story feel well thought out and complete.
The gameplay is probably my biggest complaint about the game. While the game is amazing in so many ways, and I stand by that, sometimes the AI can make me want to bang my head on the keyboard. The first dragon I fought in the game.... Oh boy! Let me tell you about that. I was over-leveled at the time, it should have been no problem at all. However the stupid AI kept suiciding into the dragon and not splitting even when I told them to. It took me a long time to figure out to properly control the AI in a way that meant they wont keep dying, and that was through the tactical menu.
In each fight you can press 'T' to go into a tactical menu. In the menu you can plan the next move of everyone in the party and control what they will do while not having to worry about the heat of battle.
Other than the AI though, the gameplay is great. And even the AI can be overlooked once you learn how to properly control them. Even then, it only affects you in big boss battles with AOE abilities.
The other aspects of the gameplay are good, with my only other complain being with the amount of dialogue. Don't get me wrong! I love the dialogue and I talk to everyone! Just... Sometimes I feel like I can't leave a place without talking to everyone. And sometimes after checking the clock I realise I spent a while hour somewhere talking to people... Crazy! I love it, and it makes the game last a long time. But sometimes I do feel a little forced.
I think that DAI is a very overlooked game that is (in my opinion) nearly perfect in its current state. There are small bugs and kinks to iron out, but the overall game is amazing. I feel truly immersed in the world when I play, and it is a joy to explore and play. I look forward to being able to play DAI every night after a hard day of work/uni.
That brings me to my final comment and closing passage. How would I rate DAI? I would rate it the same as Witcher 3. They are both amazing RPGs, but both have different approaches. What about compared to Skyrim and Fallout, two other RPG kings? I would rate it better than both. Yes, I really would. I love DAI, and if you haven't played it already I encourage you to. Not tomorrow, not next week. Now! Go and buy it now.
