While this is an interesting idea, the execution leads to a lot of down time as you wander around a mostly empty environment looking for the next mob of baddies to kill. Inquisition also breaks up the action by having players explore a large dungeon. Instead of switching between different weapons, managing your ammo, and dashing around between spots of cover, here you're mostly waiting around for the next cooldown to refresh. Controlling a single character in Inquisition just isn't as interesting as it is in ME3. If you've played Mass Effect 3's cooperative, Horde-style multiplayer, this will be familiar territory, even though it doesn't quite measure up. You and a mixture of friends, bots, and/or strangers take on the role of an inquisition's strike team on assignment from the war council. And boy does it feel good to be the boss.Įven the multiplayer in Dragon Age: Inquisition feeds into your bossiness. This, along with the war council, the choices you make, and the fact that people start referring to as 'your worship’, all feeds back into the fantasy that you are the boss.
Some defendants are criminals, other are more… complicated, but all will face your judgement. You sit on your mighty throne - which you can totally customize, by the way - fingers steepled, deep in thought, and conduct a sort of mini-trial. These small vignettes have little consequence on the overall course of the game, but dammit if they don't make you feel like a boss. My favorite moments, however, are the sentencings. The way people treat you, the decisions you're given, and how you carry yourself all channel the weight and responsibility of your office. As elvish wizard President, you have a hand in everything the Inquisition does. It feels a bit like being on The West Wing, with the part of the President being played by - in my case - an elven wizard who argues about demonic rifts instead of new legislation (pretty much the same thing, really). Deciding which missions to prioritize, reading the after action reports, and just listening to your advisers banter about day-to-day scandals across the empire conveys a sense that you're running a small nation. Will you deploy your spies to assassinate a rebel leader, or use diplomacy to help him change his ways? It's international intrigue with a personal touch, that's the Inquisition guarantee. Such decisions are made at the war council, where you assign one of three advisers - diplomatic, military, and espionage - to address requests from kings and peasants alike. And by 'move mountains' I mean sign complex treaties and launch military expeditions, but you get point. On this adventure, your forces are legion, and through them you can move mountains. Like many other BioWare games, Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of choices, but this time you're not just some lone hero with his (or her) merry band. Thankfully, most of my encounters took place in that sweet spot between large and small. Fighting in close quarters helps alleviate this issue - but tight, enclosed spaces can give the camera trouble when moving around boulders and other obstacles. This means having to constantly scroll around the screen hunting for every threat, and building a composite image of the battlefield in your mind.
Sometimes, however, the tactical camera just isn't a viable option.īattles will sometimes take place over a wider area than the screen resolution can accommodate, which prevents you from sizing up the fight at a glance. This is great for planning out your team's next move, and watching the pieces fall into place is always satisfying. You can then speed up and slow down time smoothly with the press of a button, giving you total control of the pace of the fight. From this vantagepoint, the action is paused, letting you survey the battlefield and assign orders to your party. On the strategic side, the top-down tactical camera from Origins is back, giving you a bird's eye view during combat with the press of a button.