Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough: That Was a Long Intro

Yeah, I bet you know what part of the game we got to. It is shortly after you lose all that stuff when you started, and then the real game begins.

Yeah, wow, that is a long intro part. I am wondering if the story wouldn't have been better served by cutting out a majority of that introduction and getting right to the good part. You know, cutting to the chase, and starting in the middle of the good part?

Yes, there was a reason to set everything up, and to let you get your sea legs under you, but the problem is now it feels like a huge reset button was hit and now the real game begins. Some of the NPCs have new power trees, and our core party feels etched in stone anyways. There are really only three we like taking along, and the rest of the group feels like castle bench warmers.

I miss the Shining Force series again, where everyone meant something. I am also missing the "split the party" moments in Final Fantasy 3/VI where you had to keep every character active and current because you just did not know if they were going to be called on later. Something feels wrong here when the majority of your team is on the benches, either increase the party size or reduce the number of characters, because we can't stand ignoring them.

Yes, it is us ignoring them, but laziness wins here. There doesn't feel like a need to use anybody else but our favorites, and the ones that work best in 90% of the fights. We are going with two tanks, a mage, and an archer. Other parties felt like they had sever problems with survival, and having too many squishies in the party just got too many people knocked out. When in doubt, take big iron. There are no healers in this game, so make those potions count with steel.

We are hoping things pick up, and I am forcing myself to forget that long intro and get around to enjoying the game again. It felt (to me) that things were dragging a bit, and you were being forced down a path where choices did not matter, and the endpoint was the same no matter what you did. I am hoping things break out now and we get some real world-changing stuff.

The game does feel like it is picking up though, more is open, more is happening, and the main map is coming alive. I am hopeful, and hopefully things start to get interesting from this point forward.