One thing that has become clear as the OGs age is that nothing quite mars subjectivity like a big whopping dose of nostalgia. I think we're all a little guilty of insisting that one game in a series was never topped, for one reason or another, even when it sometimes doesn't hold up at all. This isn't unique to gamers. I've tried to go back and watch tv shows or movies I swore were amazing as a kid, just to blink in embarrassment wondering why I decided to destroy the magic by staring the dragon in the mouth.
The point is that Dragon Age seems to be a fanbase guilty of this. It's not even a series that has much seniority in the gaming world and its games certainly weren't so far apart as some of its bigger competitors. Still, I hear a lot of people insisting nothing beat the flagship game.
Maybe this is why my opinion differs so strongly. I played the Dragon Age demos and watched my nephew playing them years ago and basically filed it under a play-later status. I never picked up the series until Inquisition and I fell so much in love with the lore and the emotional development aspects that I finally decided to pick up the first two. After you play Inquisition, the gameplay in Origins is so stilted, the graphics so dated, that even the story couldn't save it for me. You just don't have the options Inquisition spoils you with either. While I did enjoy it for the lore, I was eager to see if the second game didn't give me a headache. I really hated that camera...
The second game is graphically beautiful, even dated. Fenrir was a character I loved to hate and made me realize that there was a real trend with elves being a pain in the ass to romance in these games. While I only played through the first game to complete it (and I did do the DLC) with Alistair, I actually romanced Fenrir, Merrick, and Anders in this one out of sheer curiosity. Anders is by far one of the most aggravating but intriguing characters in that how you interact with him over the games vastly changes some of the storylines. The one big gripe I share with others are the lazily recycled maps. There was absolutely no attempt to cover up how unmotivated that element was. Still, I found the game enjoyable, really loving to see more of Varic's and Cassandra's back story.
My biggest complaint with Inquisition is how little the old cast came in at all. Morrigan's appearance was the biggest throughout and even her storyline stayed pretty enigmatic. Connor gets a brief showing if you saved him in the World Save option, but you get mere mentions of the elven assassin from the first game and the insufferable Prince Sebastian if you bother to even read the table quests. Alistair gets some optional appearances as well, with some mentions his relationship to the original game's character depending on decisions too. If you don't get Alistair as your grey Warden escort, you get pegged with the so-so Stroud. I found the choice between your Hawke and Alistair much harder a decision to make when it came time to sacrifice one. The other two games were so complementary with these crossovers that it seemed like a real letdown once I realized how very little Inquistition used either of its predecessors plot set-ups.
I loved the characters in Inquisition. Even though I would have loved to push Vivienne off her balcony a few times, once I played through the game a few times, I didn't feel like I could do without any of them. The banter amongst your party when you were out wandering really solidified how these characters felt about each other. It didn't take much to figure out sexual preferences, but it wasn't flaming gay, bull dyke, sexually typical tropes shoved in your face. Even the transgendered Krem was completely cool with it when you don't realize he has girl parts. Some people picked this apart in reviews too, but I felt that these things were done naturally and if they were imperfect, it only lent to the realism of human interaction. We're a little embarrassing and hard to understand sometimes. I find it endearing to reflect that in a fantasy game.
I also was in love with crafting in this game. It had the sort of options that really made it interesting and I didn't find it overwhelming. The payoff of really learning the system was some of the best gear in the game. In subsequent playthroughs, it can make getting that nightmare mode trophy almost easy. Some of the armor looked ridiculous on some characters and I found myself too often passing up the strongest options because they were aesthetically awful. It's a system I would like to see more fleshed out in a later entry.
As far as gameplay went, while there were some buggy spots, it wasn't frustratingly so. One issue I did notice was that the audio would get a bit wonky-- cutting out or cutting off-- and the only way to fix it was to close out of the game and re-enter. Not a huge deal, only seemed to be an issue after repeated entries into rest mode. This seems to be an issue with a lot of games-- games seem to like to be rebooted like computers that go to sleep too often. I am noticing this mostly in games ported over and originally made for PS3. I'd be interested to hear more about other people's experiences and theories on this.
Inquisition was definitely my sentimental favorite. It was a visually beautiful game and I made the effort to Platinum it since I enjoyed chasing down as many new conversations and relationships as possible. While Origins might have set a tone for those players who played them sequentially, I found I simply enjoyed the second and third games more. It's a series I can definitely recommend and think it definitely gives you your money's worth if you like action RPGs with open world freedom where relationships determine your options, all set in a medieval fantasy world with dragons and magic. It's not a perfect series, but it has potential. I hope the developers do it justice and bring us closer to tying up those plots!
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