My Second Playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition is Done.

I've been in a bit of a gaming lull lately (several games I've been excited about have ended up being delayed) so I decided to replay Dragon Age:  Inquisition.  After my first playthrough I decided that I liked it, but that there are some major flaws.  I was hoping that armed with some knowledge of the game that I would learn that those flaws were completely in my head.  I actually felt like I was enjoying the game more for about three-quarters of it.  Then I hit the last quarter and I felt many of the same negative feelings that I felt the first time.  (Spoilers ahead)

 This time around I tried to go completely the opposite direction from my first character.  I decided to make a more brusque and practical character who would be completely unlike my friendly, emotional elf character.  I sided with the templars rather than the mages and picked Cassandra to be the next divine.  There weren't a lot of major changes due to my different decisions.  The quest in which you recruit the templars before Haven falls is, of course, totally different from the mage quest.  I found the quest to recruit the mages much more interesting and fun.  The whole time travel aspect gave it a different feeling than storming a castle and killing demons.  Picking Cassandra as divine made the epilogue tell a different story but didn't appear to have a major impact on the plot.

One major decision from previous games that did add in a new aspect to Inquisition was the decision for Morrigan to become pregnant and then absorb the soul of the archdemon (from Origins).  I decided that she should have the baby and was surprised when she showed up with her new son, Kieran.  I hoped there would be more interaction between Morrigan and her son, but there isn't a lot.  Morrigan, a character who seems so stand-offish and ruthless in Origins, now seems like a normal loving and caring mother to her son.  What I assumed was her evil plan to use Kieran like Flemeth used her daughters turned out to be false.  Towards the end of the game there is an additional mission where Kieran uses the eluvian to enter the fade and you have to help find him.  The plot thickens as Flemeth shows up to complicate the formula.

Sadly, I still felt like there were a few too many zones and my plan to stick to the same levels as the main storyline dissolved quickly.  I still wanted to explore them all, but what was the point?  I had reached the suggested levels 16-19.  I also killed all ten high dragons...again...and didn't get the achievement.  I'm going to stick to my initial analysis of Inquisition--it's big, but the size feels extraneous towards the end of the game.