Dragon Age Inquisition Reviews

The review ban for this game has been lifted. Here are some of the reviews for this game:

First is Telegraph - 3/5
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/vi...ion-review.html

The reviewer comments on the narrative:



Next up is Joystiq - 5/5
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/11/11/dragon-age-inquisition-review-tipping-the-scales/

The reviewer's comment on missions and how to plan ahead.



Next up is PC Gamer - 87/100.
http://www.pcgamer.com/dragon-age-inquisition-review/
The reviewer's comment on advisors:



Next, and finally we have Venture Beat- 87/100
http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/11/dragon-age-inquisition-review/2/

A quote from the reviewer's conclusion:



Warning - spoilers will be in these two twitch streams for the prologue.


http://www.twitch.tv/bioware/c/5471109 part 1


http://www.twitch.tv/bioware/c/5471132 part 2

If you can't open these two or they won't play, here's link to Hrungs thread on the Bioware
DA Inquisition forums which contains a link to the full hour of the prologue.
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/518290-da...be-links-in-op/

Thanks for the links Karsten. Patiently waiting for the release day in one week

Thanks, Karsten, that is a nice mix of reviews

I just got an email from Origin saying that I had earned a $10 coupon for pre-ordering Dragon Age: Inquisition. $10 off a future $30 or more purchase--only good until 12/21. Hmm, not sure that's such a great reward--like I need another game right now! But whatever.

Actually, DA: Inquisition is the first game I've ever pre-ordered. I'm always behind everyone else in playing new games. This time I decided to be on the front line.

It's good to see that the reviews are mainly positive. Thanks for sharing. I've spent a little time recently in the beta Dragon Age Keep and am also just finishing up the Mark of the Assassin DLC for DA2. I also bought a graphics card upgrade--should be arriving any day now. My computer met the minimum (close to recommended) reqs for the game, but I wanted to give it a little more umph!

Congratulations on your first preorder, lanlynk.

Be sure to let us know what you think of the game.

Thanks, Marian.

Yesterday I also pre-ordered the Prima Official Guide book for DA: Inquisition too (from Amazon). Just the paperback one, not the collector's hardcover. I know there are always all kinds of walkthroughs and info on the internet, but I like to have a physical book for my few favorite games. The guide also gives access to the online version, which is nice.

Unfortunately, the guide isn't available until the game is released, so it won't ship until the 18th. But I'm hoping the eGuide will be available for me sooner. We'll see.

Does anyone know if the Deluxe edition is worth?

I will pre-order in Amazon.

Hard to say if it's "worth" it, but I preordered the Deluxe version myself. $10 more for some extra content. I guess it all depends on how much you love Dragon Age games.

This page shows a table listing the extra items you get with Deluxe, with a short description of each:
What you get with the Digital Deluxe Edition

EDIT: It was the armored mount that I really wanted.

Thanks lanlynk, I decided to preorder the standard, with the preorder one gets some stuff and it is the kind of game I do not play in difficult or more than once.

Makes sense, MCC!

I usually don't order deluxe editions either. Dragon Age: Inquisition has been an exception for me. First game I've ever preordered too. Funny thing is, originally I wasn't even sure I'd get this game at all. I sure hope it lives up to whatever it is I'm expecting!

BTW: I received my new graphics card and installed it a couple of days ago. Very happy with it! Should improve my game experience too--without buying a whole new computer right now.

ALSO, I bought my game copy from Origin (though I buy a lot of games from Amazon). I did a preload yesterday--which basically downloads and installs the game early. It's locked now, but will unlock itself when the release happens. I guess that helps with the servers getting clogged up at the moment of release!

Sounds like you are ready to have a great time

Wow, this is a large game. I've been downloading for around 24 hours and I'm only at 51 percent. This is probably the biggest download I've ever had, 23.81 GB. Maybe I'll be able to play it tomorrow.

lanlynk, I'd be fascinated to know if the 'locked' game is calling a website to decide whether to stay locked, or whether you can just disconnect your computer from the internet, change the date, and unlock the game.

Be aware that this game has been available through EA's Early Access (for 6 hours) last week. Also, please be aware that many players are reporting problems, bugs, with the game. It seems that certain quest does not update correctly, voices seem to suddenly be male or female where they should be the opposite. And on the DAI forums at Bioware, there now, I think, 4-5 threads which point out that the controls for pc doesn't work properly and correctly.

I don't have the game and I haven't played the game (yet) so I can't really comment if this is true or not. Just thought, I should let you know.

edit:
The game should be available for playing in the US and Canada today, November 18th. And on November 20th in Europe.

@oldman: Yes, it's huge. We were finally able to get cable at our house a couple of years ago, so my internet speed is good now. Before, we only had a slow DSL connection. It would take forever to download games. This time, DA: I downloaded pretty quickly.

@gremlin: Not sure about the locked game calling in. My game unlocked last night (Nov. 17) at 8:00 pm without me watching it. It probably had to call in though because I believe I read somewhere that the preloads had to be "verified" before being unlocked--whatever that includes.

@Karsten: I wondered how bad the initial bugs would be. That's one of the reasons I don't usually get games when they first come out. This time, I decided to get the preorder goodies and to be ready to play as soon as the game was available (and stable). But I haven't actually played it yet. I'm still exploring DA Keep choices.

Last night, I also decided to hold off playing a bit so I can browse some forums to see how the brave souls are doing who started the game right away. I still have my Strategy Guide coming from Amazon too. And I may just wait a little while more to see if a patch comes out or glitches get workarounds. I also tend to spend a lot of time in character creation and planning ahead. I'm not one of those folks who love to see how fast they can do quests! Thanks for the heads-up. I'll try to pace myself and be patient!

EDIT: Hey, gremlin: I just read in another forum someone asking your same question. The answer given was, there's no way to just go offline and fix the clock. The game has to call in while online. So I doubt that would have worked.

I now finished Call of Duty AW, just in time to start Dragon Age that should be knocking at the door anytime now .

I bought the PS4 version.

Woot woot,

As far as I know om PC (via Origin) you'll only need to be online to activate the game. Then you can play offline to your heart's content.

Well I got it downloaded after around 35 or so hours. I've played through the first part which is more or less a prologue/tutorial.

The things I like are:

The graphics, I am wowed by them and the characters look so real, both in regular play and fmv.

The gameplay, although it took some time to acquaint myself with the controls.

The things I am still on the fence about is the travel (which I am still trying to figure out). Once I get accustomed to it I may feel more comfortable.

The storyline, which again, I may feel better about that once I move further into the game

The quests and quest markers, and trying to figure out where to go next. I am a bit dense on some things RPG and need a seeing eye dog to guide me through sometimes but it will eventually penetrate my thick skull.

All in all I feel that the game is going to be a welcome addition to the DA series and, although I'm not sure the overall feel of the game will top DA Origins,but it is something to behold because of the graphics alone.

Well, sounds like you have quite a challenge in front of you!

Mark Darrah made a thread about the problems most people that play on pc seems to have.
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/521697-pc-community-concerns/

He promises there will be a fix for these, here's a quote from the post he made:



I just thought you should that Bioware - and EA - are aware af these issues and are going to do something about them...

Always nice when companies listen and address issues.

My son got this game as a birthday present and in 40 hours of play he has only experienced one crash to desktop thus far on the PC version. His computer specs are mid range - the only frame rate/loading issue he has is when a new area on the map is loading - there is about a 5- to 10-second delay. He says he can live with that. He is, however, using a game controller, and he says that makes a big difference in ease of handling the game controls. He is also using beta drivers for his graphics card, and that too has made a difference for him in how well the game plays.

Overall he is very pleased, because he was worried that the game would run poorly for him such that he wouldn't want to play it at all. He loves the game.

And thus far he has encountered no bugs or glitches.

I've been following the threads about the pc problems that most people seem to have. And it seems there's several things these people have in common:

*they've altered a certain command line in the game so that they can get 60 fps (frames per second) instead of the 30 fps they game was born with in cutscenes.
* Nearly all of them have an overclocked CPU
* Many of them (most of them?) seem to have high range spec for their computers.
* Many of them (most of them?) seem to have six or eight cores.
* Many of them (most of them?) seem to have more than 4 GB RAM.

And yes, the game plays better using a game controller or gamepad. But the question here should be this, I find: shouldn't a game which also was developed for pc have an interface developed for pc?

Karsten, I absolutely agree that the interface should be appropriate for the PC version. Hopefully this will be fixed in a patch. PC players shouldn't be required to be proficient with a game controller in order to have a good experience with the game.

I have figured out the quest/map items pretty much to my satisfaction and am zipping along pretty well on the game.

I'm not wild about having to open up areas before you can explore and don't really understand it but am living with it.

I have had crashes to desktop and a few times the game just froze while I was looking at the quest journal. There has also been some lags when I was in a conversation mode trying to choose the choice in the conversation tree. It's been mostly on the mouse though and when I used the keyboard to make my choice it worked fine. These are few and not game stoppers though. All in all I'm enjoying the game and hope the next patch will address those items as Karston quoted.

Thanks for the update, Karsten. It sounds like most of the problems seem to be coming from players who want to push the game. I'm not one of those. I don't overclock, etc. I like nice graphics, but make sure performance doesn't suffer too much to get it.

Agree about the PC controls. I hope the patch really helps with that issue.

I'm finishing up my choices in the Dragon Age Keep--ready to import them into DA Inquisition. But I ended up getting sick a couple of days ago. I'm better now, but I'm lagging behind in most of my activities.

Glad to hear people are enjoying the game overall, though.

Glad to hear you are feeling better, Lanlynk

Thanks, looney4labs. I got a nice surprise in the mail today: my Prima Guide arrived! I've been browsing through, looking at the companions and so forth. The physical guide also comes with a code for the online version. Very nice. The online guide is kept up to date, easily searchable, etc. So I've been checking things out there too.

I think I'll probably play a male human mage this go 'round, maybe Knight Enchanter specialization. Josephine looks like a great romantic interest.

Anyone playing a qunari? That might be an interesting, different option!

An online, searchable guide sounds like a great bonus. Have fun!

Here's another source for reviews, mostly positive.

11 Things You Should Know About Dragon Age Inquisition

Dragon Age Inquisition: The Kotaku Review

One of the things the author says is that DA: Inquisition is pretty dependent on Thedas backstories and lore. Here's his quick summary of Thedas history (kind of humorously told) to check out if new players aren't familiar with DA Origins or DA2 (or if they've forgotten some things).

A Beginner's Guide to All Things Dragon Age

Sweet! Thanks, Lan

Ok, I'm probably posting too much! But I love preparing and getting ready for new games. Getting into "character." For me, anticipation is as much fun as the actually playing. Anyway, today I ran across something I hadn't heard about and thought I'd share it with new players.

Besides the preorder and/or digital deluxe bonus items, there is also a free DLC promotional weapons pack available to all players. You can unlock this pack by playing a point and click style minigame online.

Red Lyrium Reapers Weapons Pack

Help and simple Walkthroughs: "The Quest for the Red Lyrium Reapers is a minigame available on the Dragon Age: Inquisition website. Completing the game will unlock the Red Lyrium Reapers Weapons Pack promotional DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition."
Wikia Quest Guide
EA Guide for Quest

And the quest starts here (you need to sign in to your Origin acct so the items will sync to your game):
Discovery Experience: Quest for the Red Lyrium Reapers


Oh and BTW, if you want more info on where to find your other bonus items in game (preorder or deluxe), here's the help page on that:
Where to Find Bonus Content in the Game

Have fun!

We love your posts! And love it when gamers are having fun! Thanks for the info on free stuff

I have a PC that should be able to handle this game, however with some negative experiences with PC games I bought the PS4 version. Play Station version rarely crash and this has not crashed once, also it has the advantage of I would be able to trade it in if decided to.

I am doing quite well, just recruited Cole, I was uncertain if t is better to recruit him or kill him but, for what I read, he is quite useful even when strange.

Does anyone have any bad experience with him? I could go back easily and get him killed.

I haven't dealt with Cole yet, but I intend to recruit him. I don't usually kill possible companions. Now, whether I take them out in the field with me later is another thing.

I get the impression Cole is a demon spirit, but mainly allied to the "good" side.
Cole Profile


Cole reminds me a little of Justice in Dragon Age Origins: Awakening. And remember, Justice was the one who possessed Anders in Dragon Age 2 (and was tainted by Anders' anger).
The Spirit of Justice

I play mainly shooters and horror survival, not many RPG series, I have played the previous DA and The Witcher series.

I read that Cole is strange and sometimes make weapons disappear ...

Well I have just finished the Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts quest which was rather frustrating for me as I had trouble getting around the castle. But that's just me and my navigation skills.

I'm getting pretty close to the end of the main quests but have a lot of side quests yet undone. I'm playing and enjoying the game in spite of the many crashes to desktop. I've read that Bioware is working with Nvidia on attempting to fix the problem of crashes so I guess it must be the Nvidia cards that are having the problems with the crashes. I have a GeForce GTX 660 and my rig meets the requirements for the game.

Maybe by my second play through they'll have the patch and maybe it will solve the problem (or not)

Oldman, so glad you are having fun

I have the game (I usually don't get games on release or so close to it), however, I haven't had a chance to play it. I'm probably just going to wait for the release of the first patch before playing so some of the bugs get squashed for a more enjoyable experience.

@Templeton Peck: I haven't started playing either. Spending time in Dragon Keep and prepping though. I also did the Discovery minigame I posted about before, so I've earned my Red Lyrium Reapers weapons. Those videos you watch with that are neat. I want to spend some time in character creation in the next few days too. If a patch doesn't come out in the next week though, I'll probably start playing anyway.

@oldman: Sounds like you're making headway! I have an AMD Radeon graphics card, not Nvidia. Maybe I won't have some of the issues reported.

@mcc: So you're more concerned with glitches with Cole rather than his character? I haven't run across anything about him causing problems with weapons.

I didn't get Cole killed but in the first time i went out he had disappeared, he was not available, I found him later.

Origin just patched my game and it seems to be a lot better. I haven't had one crash since the patch was installed.

The game is much more enjoyable now. I rushed through a first play through and got to the final battle and, after beating the final boss, the game crashed before it went to the final scene. Since the update I replayed the battle and got to see the whole ending of the game. (Good ending by the way)

Now I'm a female mage and am taking my time and doing most of the side quests.

So glad to hear that!

As for the patch, yes Bioware patched the game yesterday. Scylla Costa, DAI's producer updated the Bioware blog with this news a few days ago. Here's the link to the update:
http://blog.bioware.com/2014/12/08/upcoming-patches-and-features-for-dragon-age/

Scylla Costa writes:


Scylla Costa also talks about updating the content:



Glad to se the patch is working :)

Great news! Thanks for the heads-up, oldman and Karsten. I opened Origin and it updated my game automatically. Now I feel safer starting the game.

Have fun!

It should be noted that a "hotfix" is being prepared to patch the patch. Stay tuned. It has also been announced that several more patches will be issued with the timing uncertain.

Thanks, Gobobby. That seems to be the way of things

I had another update today for the game, which I bet was the hotfix. I read that it was available now.

I started my game this afternoon. Spent a lot of time in character creation. I guess I'm ok with my hero. He doesn't look too dangerous right now though. The lighting in the creation screen was much darker than it is in the game itself. But actually my graphics are gorgeous. And the game play is very smooth.

The only issue I have is me, trying to figure out the controls. Marcus is acting like a bit of a doofus right now. It's a wonder Cassandra is even putting up with the guy. In fact, she does want to kill him.

"Please don't hurt me, Cassandra. I'm just a confused level 1 Mage in handcuffs."

Hopefully, he'll get better!

Thanks! Things have improved. I re-keyed some of the controls to make them more comfortable for me.

As for my mage, he spent some time in Haven, gathering intel, assigning missions, crafting armor and weapons, preparing potions, and just getting to know more about those he's working with.

He also practiced his magic skills against a druffalo herd in the valley near Haven. And now, he has finally made his way to the Hinterlands.

I love being able to outfit my own characters.

Emprise du Lion help!

For some reason I cannot go forward, I have two camps I have closed 2 rifts but I cannot find a path through the mountains to go anywhere, I am blocked in all directions

I think if you finish a quest called Take Back the Lion, you can find a tunnel to pass through. I haven't done this myself yet, but here's a web page that might be helpful to you:

Stuck in Emprise du Lion

EDIT: That web page also mentions needing to deal with Imshael before you can leave. So that might create an issue as well as the other quest I noted.

Thanks, Lan

Mcc

Thanks landlink!

I have not been able to do Take Back the Lion because I cannot reach there, apparently the tunnel appears after talking to a woman in a yellow house, I did talk to her but I have not found the tunnel yet, maybe there is another yellow house ...

I will update if I find something.

Update: I found a Youtube WT, the tunnel is a passage (going out of Highgrove Camp) I had been in before but it has 2 exits and I had missed one .

Advise, do not try to climb the mountains there, one only gets the character to jump in the less stylish way

Today is the day I start playing Inquisition finally!

Well maybe... I launched Origin and it needed to update first and restart.

Then I noticed you can upgrade the standard edition to the deluxe edition now. So I purchased the upgrade and then waited while it downloaded and installed all the updates.

I was finally ready to launch the game and... oh yeah it says my video card drivers are out of date and the game won't run until I upgrade.

So after the driver download, install and inevitable computer restart I'm hoping I'll get a look at the game today.

@mcc: Glad you made it out. That area sounds like it might be a little tricky to get through. Thanks for the hands up for when I get there!

@Templeton Peck: Your experience sounds like mine! Lots of prep and pre-game must-do's. I finally got a good start, but have been doing Christmas related stuff the last couple of days--had to leave my hero standing in a corral, waiting to mount his horse for the first time.

EDIT: I just thought of another tricky quest, one I had trouble with and had to look up online. In the West Road area, near the Crossroads camp (Hinterlands), there are Templars and Mages fighting. I couldn't end the quest at first. Those Templars just kept spawning! I was getting desperate. Turns out I hadn't found the last camp site for them. It's past another camp left of the broken bridge. Once I dealt with that one, the quest finished. I guess there are several areas in the game that might be difficult to find! Lots of places to explore, some tucked away out of sight.

Bioware has updated their Bioware blog with news of an upgrade to multiplayer as well as an upgrade for the singleplayer game. You can read the news here:

http://www.dragonage.com/?sf34711320=1#!...s=1418760534937

Here's the quote for the multiplayer upgrade:



Here's what you get in the update for the singleplayer game for 9.99 US dollars.



Just thought I let you know...

Hey, Karsten. Thank you for the info. I already have the Digital Deluxe Edition, so the single player upgrade wouldn't add anything for me, but I did install the free multiplayer DLC through Origin today--just in case I ever want to do multiplayer.

Besides what you mentioned, the Digital Deluxe Upgrade also adds the Flames Weapons pack and Armor, an armored horse, and the game's soundtrack album (as an MP3 download). It's for those who originally bought the Standard game version, and would like to get the Deluxe items now.

And FYI: A while back, Origin added another free DLC option for the English Voice Over Pack. I live in the US and already have the English version of the game, so this is also something I don't need. But those who have other language versions of the game might prefer the English dialogue.

I absolutely LOVE this game. It's amazingly entertaining. Already have just under 300 hours in it.

Hi all btw

Oh, if any Mods are around, can I post a link to a site which have detailed Maps of all regions.. well most anyway, working on the rest?
They show where Mosaic pieces, bottles etc can be found too.

@misslilo: I'm pretty sure it's ok to post links to guides, maps, etc. as long as no copyrights are violated and credit is given when needed.

I'd love a link to a more detailed map. I have the game guide, but it's not always clear where things actually are. What I'd REALLY like to find is a map with drawn trails, paths and roads. I often find myself trying to jump my hero up the sides of mountains to get to places because I can't find a route through!

I'd also love better maps of indoor places--caves, mines and such. I just spent some time in the Forbidden Oasis. Gorgeous desert place, but it's like a maze there. Lots of climbing and circling around. I'm suppose to find a miner, but I can't get to her. Love the scenery though. It reminds me of some of the Myst games or even Knights of the Old Republic.

I did find this site for maps with color icons:
Game Maps and Guide for DA:I

Yeah, that's the one I use too @Ianlynk :)

There's also the:
- DAI Archives - info on a lot of the Quests etc.
- Find all 10 Dragons - Maps of Dragon locations with info difficulty etc.
- Notes in Hissing Wastes - I had trouble finding all the notes & this helped a lot.

Hi guys, thanks for the links. No problem at all.

Hi all,
I have read where you can assign secondary skills to your hotkeys but can't find out how to do it. The only thing I can find from the game site is this manual under mastering combat and battle menu which only confuses me. I think it is meant for gamepad controls but there is no mention of how to map for PC.

Also maybe everyone knows this already but if you use the manual marker by right clicking on an area it is really helpful as it shows you exactly where to go. Especially helpful when you get close and the quest marker disappears from your compass.

Oldman, Mr. Google was so not helpful on this one. I hope a vet will be able to answer this for you.

@ oldman: From what I read, you can only assign 8 skills/spells to hot keys. I also had this question when my tactic slots started getting filled. I'm upset about this as are a lot of PC players. It looks like it's because of the console setups: they only have 8 skill controls so PC players now have only 8 choices. And you can't change them during battle, only in between battles, just like you can't change weapons during battle. It's going to really limit my play options--I haven't even gotten to my specialty yet. So far, this has been my main negative feeling about the game.

I think I will have to respec my player because I did not plan for this limitation. Blacksmith NPCs sell an amulet that resets all skill points when equipped (to you, or to your companions). The first one costs 1 coin, consecutive ones cost 345 (?) coins. After equipping it, it disappears (it's a single-use item). This won't give me more skill choices, but at least will let me prioritize. I'll have to focus and only upgrade certain skills. The problem is, for a mage, you can't just go with one element, for example, because enemies are immune to some. And not only that, to get through a skill tree, you have to choose several tactics that you'll then have to discard if you're wanting one of the "higher" skills. Boo!

EDIT Corrected: I had thought that party members you don't control directly could use any of the skills they have, not just the ones in the hot keys, but I'm pretty sure this is not true despite reports by players. A game designer says there are 32 total skills/spells available per 4-person party. I'll have to do some experimenting on this.


...I found out about that right clicking on the map and also found it useful. It doesn't stay in place between visits to the area though--unless I messed up how to use it correctly. I wanted to mark places with certain herbs. That's a good idea to use it for marking my location though.

@misslilo: Thanks for the links! Very useful, especially the character builds. I think I'm going to have to do some studying on builds.

Well I keep getting hints (and also reading about) combo attacks and I thought it meant that you could assign two skills to the same slot but then as I read the confusing manual it mentioned that you could only assign them while in combat but the keys they mentioned don't exist on pc keyboard so that's wherein my confusion lies. I just don't understand what they mean by combo attacks.

I think the combo attacks is that you, (on the console controller?) can press A, and maybe another button. This lets your player(s) perform a normal attack and maybe swinging attack as well? I know that you can strafe backwards and shoot at the same time i.e. with a bow. (seen in one of the twitch streams videos released just before the game was released).

It could also mean that, as in DA:O, you can cast grease and then throw a fireball onto the grease or ignite the grease with fire.

And yes, as I understand, at the moment, you can only assign 8 spells/skills to your hotkeys pr. player, I mean for each character in your party.

@ Karsten: I think you're right. Your whole party only has 8 available skills/spells each. I had read conflicting reports on non-controlled characters, but have concluded that there are only 32 available skills per 4 person party.

Has anyone spent any time in the overhead tactic mode for combat? Unfortunately, I have heard some complaints about this camera view. I haven't worked with it yet. I need to try it out. Maybe combo moves make more sense there. You can more easily set them up. I don't think you can preset any combos with keys specifically. You have to tell your team how to attack individually. Combos are either made by one character or across classes.


Combat Design of Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition Skill Combo Guide

Where can one buy really good weapons and armor? I have plenty of money but not many places to buy these things.

I can have the last fight now but I want to fight some more, I only fought one dragon in Hissing Wastes I will use misslilos link to do so. Thanks.

Which partners do you take against the dragons? I took once two warriors (Blackwal and Iron Bull) and a mage (Solas) apart from me (a rogue), but the result was not good, later I took my normal team (Sera, Blackwall and Solas), this worked a lot better.

I'm not as far along in the game, but I read somewhere that Val Royeaux merchants have good armor and weapons. I also read that the best equipment is actually what you can find during exploration or what you craft yourself if you get the upper level schematics (especially armor). I've crafted a lot of my stuff, but it is time consuming.

Dragons: I'd choose more ranged characters over melee. And remember, not all dragons are fire ones, so prepare yourself with the right resistances and weapons.

Thanks!

My weapons and armor don't seem good enough to kill some dragons even when I am at higher level.

If you're interested David Gaider, DAI's Lead Writer answered questions from fans on his personal blog on tumblr, link here: http://dgaider.tumblr.com/

Here's a Q&A about how David writes:

@Karsten: Thank you! I'll enjoy looking at his blog. I just got through reading David Gaider's novel, Dragon Age: Asunder. Enjoyed it a lot. Characters from the first two games were in it as well as Cole. It contains Cole's back story. I haven't read any of the other Dragon Age books, but was interested in that one because it linked DA2 to DAI. (I read it in ebook form.)

Thanks, Karsten

So I've finally gotten around to committing some serious time to the game.

I'm enjoying the game so far, but at the same time I have to say I'm also disappointed. I read one review prior to playing that mentioned a lot of little flaws and I'm finding this to be very true.

The first two games in the series grabbed my attention right away and had me hooked, but this one is just missing something at the start to draw you in right away.

The flaws I've mentioned:

-For whatever reason when I close the game it always opens the language bar in Windows, even though I have it disabled. I have to close that each time I'm finished playing the game.

-I have had one crash so far in about 12 hours of play, not bad, but it did just drop to desktop with no warning.

-I got caught in an endless update cycle the other day, where it did update, but then kept thinking there were more updates and I had to eventually do a repair on the game to get it to launch.

-The control scheme leaves something to be desired. I thought by the second game they'd pretty much nailed it including combat and I was very used to that, but now they've gone and changed things again. I really dislike having to right click on small circles to pick up loot and interact with things. I can't count how many times I left clicked by mistake and start swinging my sword and then have to wait till it's put away again to interact.

The same can be said of combat, I left click on someone to attack, but it just swings your sword where you are standing in place. You have to go to a tactical view to make it actually attack an enemy. This brings me to pausing the game, it used to be spacebar, but now with jump included I find myself jumping instead of pausing the game a lot of the time. That's not to mention the camera angles with tactical view leave a lot to be desired and I find myself looking at trees or other things in the way instead of seeing enemies properly at times.

Searching for things is also a bit of a pain as you constantly have to tap v all the time. I do prefer the press tab and see everything highlighted of other games.

-The levelling system and influence among companions has also been dumbed down a bit. You no longer control stat points for strength, etc. and you can no longer see an influence meter/bar for your companions. Also, the auto levelling seems somewhat broken for companions, it chooses melee skills for Varric as an example who has Bianca a special crossbow.

-Speaking of levelling, the XP you get from combat from what I've seen so far is very little. It's almost not worth the time. For example fighting level 8 enemies at level 4 yielded me very little experience and I was almost killed from the encounter. I hear later on this changes in some areas, but so far only XP from completing quests/tasks seems to matter. With enemies respawning in areas it's definitely not worth the fight a second time round.

The sheer amount of stuff to do can be overwhelming at times as well, I kind of miss the more controlled smaller areas of previous games. Sure it was more limited, but it was easier to manage. They have added a lot of content, but it really means a lot more fetch quests than anything else so far.

Thanks, Templeton. I always hate when control schemes that I am comfortable with change.