The Journey is Complete.

Leliana--she's not as interesting as in Origins.

(Firstly, there could be spoilers.  This is mostly a review, but possible spoilers!)

After around 96 hours of playtime I have finally finished my first playthrough of Dragon Age:  Inquisition (I know what you're thinking, "shut up about Dragon Age:  Inquisition already!"  I'm sorry!  One last post to get it out of my system).  I was extremely excited about this follow-up to what a lot of people felt was a weak game in the form of Dragon Age II.  I have to say now that I'm finished I feel sort of weird.  It's more of a "meh" feeling.  I will try to explain my feelings of "meh" in my review to follow.

If this was a Steam review one of the first things it would ask me was if I would recommend this game to a friend.  The answer to that question is yes.  You should play it.  You should especially play it if you've played the previous games.  You should play it even if you haven't played the previous games (but it would make so much more sense if you had--it's still totally playable without having played them).  Did I have fun playing DA:  I?  Yes.  Overall I was not extremely wowed by it.

I have yet to try the multiplayer.  I've heard that it is fun.  In my playthrough I tried to complete as many side quests and collections as I could.  I had mixed success and didn't spend time going back to find mosaic pieces that I didn't come across in my explorations.  I think I only completed one mosaic (which is kind of sad, but it's a huge world and finding all those pieces is difficult).

Things that I enjoyed about Dragon Age:  Inquisition:
1.) If you played Dragon Age II then you know that one of the biggest complaints about that game was that it all took place in the same areas.  And then those areas repeated themselves.  Well, I have to applaud them for completely obliterating that problem.  The world of Thedas in Inquisition is huge.  Of the 96 hours I played I can almost guarantee that 60-70 of those hours were spend exploring the new zones.  The new zones offer quite a bit of variety in their overall appearance.  The Hinterlands is a pine forest/farmland area, the Storm Coast is a rugged coastline littered with dwarven ruins and shipwrecks, and when you head into Orlais you could be in a sandy desert or on a war-torn plain.  It is extremely diverse and it is extremely gorgeous--the graphics are stunning and part of the fun of exploring is enjoying the wind blowing through the trees or the sounds of birds chirping from above.  Another fun aspect related to exploration is the addition of mounts.  If you're into collecting you'll definitely want to try to unlock all the unique mounts.

2.) Skyhold.  The Normandy from Mass Effect is really amazing, but Skyhold is a freakin' castle.  A CASTLE!  Isn't it the dream of every nerd to have their own castle?  Well, that dream comes true in Inquisition.  I enjoyed planning the decorations and layout of my home base and that you could somewhat customize it.  From hanging out in the rookery listening to the ravens cawing or wandering along the ramparts, Skyhold is an amazing setting.  There is even more collecting in Skyhold as you can unlock different decorations, like stained glass windows, banners, and thrones.

3.) Logistical details--AKA the War Table.  I really liked the concept of having advisors with their own unique strengths and using their assets to command.  This made my character feel like an actual commander directing a massive effort as opposed to just commanding your few companions.  It was nice to know that there was always something else going on in the background and that some of these operations could lead to new missions.

4.) Combat.  I don't feel that I am as good at managing combat as I should be, but I have always enjoyed the combat in the Dragon Age series.  It is fun to figure out how to best use the different abilities of your squad members and how to plan powerful combos.  To watch it all unfold is extremely rewarding.  Fighting dragons is as good as it gets.  Taking down a dragon in Inquisition is a serious feat and feels that way.

5.) Humorous moments.  I always appreciate some levity in my games.  Finding out that Cassandra secretly read Varric's romance novels and was a huge fan was funny.  Sera was a character who was diametrically opposed to my character but her dialogue got some laughs.  One of the best moments was playing a game of wicked grace with a big group of your companions and watching as Cullen ended up losing all his clothes.

6.) Character creation tool.  It is extremely detailed and allows you to make a very unique character.  I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked with it and am planning on taking my time while designing my next character.  You can also choose different voices for your characters which is a nice change.

7.) Art style.  The way that they used a medieval type design scheme for the "cards" that made up the codex entries was really cool.  I was very excited when I noticed that the cards for my companions were changing as I got to know them.  At the end of the game they use a series of portraits to explain the epilogue and I thought those were really interesting and beautiful.

Things I didn't enjoy:
1.) Number of companions.  I think this may just be something I disliked, but I felt like there were way too many party members.  Do we really need two or three of each class?  I have always liked BioWare's character development and ability to design interesting characters, but I felt like with a larger group that there wasn't as close of a connection between party members.  I didn't chat up my teammates as much because there were so many of them.  I am hoping in future playthroughs to do a more thorough job of getting to know all my party members.  (I might be totally wrong about the number of party members seeming large--when I think of previous games it seems like you also had quite a few options)

Another area related to party members was the decision to get rid of gifts in Inquisition.  Maybe I am cheesy or sentimental, but I actually enjoyed finding unique gifts for my squadmates and getting the satisfaction of making them happy.  I also didn't really know how to gauge how my squadmates felt about my character overall.  I would get the occasional messages about "Sera slightly disapproves," but never found a scale that recorded these feelings.  Does it matter that Vivienne seemed to hate my guts out?  I guess not.

2.) Tactical camera.  I want to stab it.  I like being able to pause combat, but maneuvering this thing was a pain in the buttocks.  I played as a mage so it was difficult to track the melee as well as my ranged characters.  The camera does not work well in tight spaces like caves or tunnels and requires some serious adjustments.

3.) Weak connections to previous games.  I like seeing some of the characters from previous games pop up.  Yes, you get Varric, Morrigan, and Leliana, but I would have liked some interactions with Alistair or Aveline.  Maybe in some future DLC?  Alistair does make one very brief appearance, but it's not that exciting (I don't even think it was the same voice actor).  I also would have liked there to be more interaction between the races.  It felt like you were working to unite the humans of Thedas--where were the dwarves and the elves?  In Origins you really got a feel for the major races--in Inquisition they feel very disparate.

I also felt like this game was somewhat of a departure from previous games in the layout--somewhat open world, but also still somewhat directed.  It was different--better than Dragon Age II, but still a little weird.

4.) Ending.  I felt slightly underwhelmed by the ending.  I know they're trying to keep the door open for future games, but it just didn't feel very epic.  It was like "yaaaay, we're done! Now what?"  There is a pretty big cliffhanger at the very end, but I didn't feel that same sense that I did when I finished something like Mass Effect.

Don't expect to be blown away by something that is completely new and different in Inquisition.  It follows BioWare's tried and tested formula and succeeds, but it's more of the same.  Sure, it's huge and gorgeous, but I don't know...it's lacking something that drew me to the previous games (yes, even the second one that everyone hated).