So, I now have 12 hours or so into Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC). I feel like I have scratched the surface quite a bit and done a fair amount of stuff, yet I feel like I have not even come close to scratching much of this game. This game's huge...ridiculously huge. We're talking about Skyrim type of huge, in terms of the actual game-world + with so many things to do. And that would be just the Hinterlands itself, one of the first (huge) maps in the game - not even counting a few of the areas + towns that I've reached.
Importing your game-state, if you plan not to start from scratch w/ your game-state - this is likely going to come from how you set-up the Dragon Age Keep (online). It would've been nice if you they had an offline version of The Keep (for those who ain't always got a connection to the Net), but this is what you are stuck with. If you want to import your game-state, then you should let the DA Keep take your DA:O save; DA2 save; and/or just manipulate how you want the Tapestries (from DA1 and DA2) to be set-up for DA:I. DA:I will ask you if you want to import a saved game-state - and you begin DA:I from there. Characters who are in DA:I that appeared previous games (such as Varric), might still be in contact recently w/ characters from previous games + even tell you how certain characters are doing- and your game-state will be reflected based on your decisions. This makes the game feel like your decisions from previous games actually mattered, as already important decisions from older games have been mentioned (by Varric).
DA:I's story + plot is that your character is heralded as the new Hero, as you are able to control the Fade Rifts that keep opening and are swarming with an outpouring of monsters. You can close them - and it seems that nobody else has this power. From this, the Mage and Templar War (which really got to began to reach new heights in DA2) is the on-going saga here - and you're trying to decide if you can get everybody on the same page + (hopefully, if you can) recruit people to your group. Your objective is to try to stop the evil that's trying to tear this world apart. As one would expect from a BioWare game, the storytelling + narrative is at the very least quite good. Meanwhile, the Lore itself; the writing of the actual dialogue itself + voice-acting; and the character development stuff here is absolutely fantastic.
Gameplay from DA:I is ridiculously huge in scope, as it feels like a bunch of different types of games + gameplay. For a game with so much ambition, one might expect the game to collapse under its own weight somewhere by trying to do too much and cater to so many different styles of gameplay - but, this game actually does not. This game succeeds, where many others wouldn't in delivering the kitchen sink. DA:I feels like a combination of Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare style of pausing to give orders; the major return of the tactical-cam + strategical gameplay; the world map with areas you can travel to; return of auto-attack); Dragon Age II (faster paced-combat; action-style gameplay); Skyrim (a huge open-world to explore w/ tons of one-off quests + quick fetch quests); Assassin's Creed style collect-a-thon quests (find X areas, find X locations, find X items, etc); and MMO's even (the game-world is ridiculously huge; and this game even have auto-run + auto-attack feature is even here).
By doing main quests, side quests, collect-a-thons, etc - you gain also Power points, which you can use to take on certain side + main missions. To be able to tackle some side quests + main quests, you might find yourself often having to do some side-quests, collect-a-thons, & find-a-thons just to gain enough Power to able take on some of these more-involved quests (which often have decision-making in them). The game-world is huge, so save a lot - b/c you shouldn't be surprised if you are Level 4 and then turn into an area on the map that is loaded with Level 12 enemies.
While you can use Keyboard-mouse combo or a controller here, I have been playing with the keyboard-mouse combo. If you have the camera down at ground-level right behind your character (in the 3rd-person over-the-shoulder view), you're going to have to control them directly like Dragon Age II - WSAD-style (or whatever you set the customizable keys to move to) & use keyboard-mouse combo to do attacks. Now, there is a key to auto-attack for basic melee + ranged attacks - and the player doesn't have to pound to attack the keys if they want to play the game entirely like an action-game (which is how things were in Dragon Age II). You can use the auto-run to move around in a straight direction (and also use the right-mouse button to turn the cam so they move a certain direction), which is often found in MMO's since often maps are so huge + so you aren't wearing out the spring key or movements...and your hands. You certainly can switch b/t characters at any time + switch to another party-member, as well...just like the previous Dragon Age games. No matter how you play, combat is over fast + furious - feeling like its at a speed similar to that of Dragon Age II. Combat looks and feels great, no matter how you play it.
Don't let DA:I's combat speed fool you...thinking that it this not that tactical, either. On Normal difficulty, it feels somewhere b/t both Dragon Age: Origins + Dragon Age II. Some battles, I feel fine just attacking Dragon Age II style, in a more action-orientated way. Other times, I might die a few times, reload some saves, then resort to DA:O style of combat - enlisting the overhead tactical camera, which can lead to success. The overhead tactical camera is back, making it returns from DA:O & has its own improvements. You can hover the mouse over enemies to see their weaknesses, some stats, current effects, & things of that sort. This is also the only way you can play the game like an old-school Baldur's Gate game (or most other Infinity Engine game) where you can just click-and-point with the mouse to give commands, movements, and things of that sort - if you prefer to play the game like a strategic-style classic cRPG where you can command small parties. At any time, you can switch from rolling the mouse-wheel forward or backwards; or just hit the proper key to switch b/t the two camera modes.
Combat is also changed, as I have not seen any Mage-style healing spells or resurrection spells. You have potions that you can replenish at Camps. Since some maps (like The Hinterlands) are huge, you can find spots on the map where you are allowed to set-up Camp. Here, you can Rest (to restore health) + replenish potions. If a comrade goes down in combat, you can go over to the comrade; stand by them, and try to revive them, if you don't get hit in a certain amount of times - which feels right out of a Gears of War and any other action-style game when you are trying to bring up a knocked-down comrade. Also, magic points are basically gone - all attacks and spells have their own timed cool-downs before you can reuse the skill again. B/c of these small changes, this also makes the game feel more offense-based in its combat than ever before, as well.
That certainly isn't everything that I can talk about - but this is certainly plenty, I think, for now. So far, I am thoroughly impressed with something so extremely ambitious, huge in scope & has so much going on - yet it never seems to fall under its own weight by trying to do too much. Many other games, would've failed somewhere by trying to do so much. Loaded with so many different styles of gameplay; different quest types; & decisions to make (in the typical main missions + side missions that are not one-off quests nor collect-a-thons); and the typical BioWare expertise (storytelling, character development, Lore, and things of that sort) - Dragon Age: Inquisition so far is an excellent + extremely ambitious game. I really can't wait to dive back into this and play some more - so, I think I'm going to just do so
