i’m happy for everyone who enjoyed this, but i’m disappointed. it’s not a bad game; i just don’t like it.

the companions are great and i really love them. the gameplay is seamless & the most fun i’ve had with a dragon age game’s playstyle, and this is coming from an annoying origins glazer. the main story itself isn’t boring & even quite engaging at times, but that’s really it.

this isn’t the setting i fell in love with back when i played origins for the first time, and it hasn’t been for a while, but this feels like everything compounded. it’s watered down and ultimately lacklustre, it does away with “problematic” elements entirely rather than handling them tactfully, and i felt somehow removed from the setting or like my character wasn’t really in it pretty much all the time. but i’m mostly just disappointed.

i’ll come back to this at some point to finish it, but not at the moment. it feels like a chore rather than a game i’m playing for fun right now. and that makes me sad.

Before I offer my review of this product, I like to share a bit of my history with this franchise. In late 2019 I became a more consistent computer game player as I had more time than I did when I was younger. I found and played through “Dragon Age: Origins” and all DLC material available. I simply fell in love with the compelling, captivating, and immersive story; the lore; the companions; the choices; the consequences of my actions…! It was a journey that brough back memories of playing the tabletop first edition of advanced dungeons and dragons with my buddies some 40 years earlier! With an insatiable appetite, I immediately continued my exploration of Thedas by completing all the content for Dragon Age 2 (DA2) and Inquisition (DAI). I spend hours and hours getting to know more and more about Thedas and its people, places, politics, and plights. So, with eager anticipation, I waited ten long years for the next installment of the Dragon Age story…

The following are my thoughts, observations, and opinions of this next installment…

The game’s character creator is run-of-the-mill. I was not a big fan of all the options and the art style of my character. Upon completion, I felt my rook looked a bit cartoony, disproportional, and too clean/neat.

Upon completion of my character and starting the game, I felt like I got air dropped into the world of Minrathous’ action without much context as to why I was there. Although I was familiar with Varic Tethras from my DA2 and DAI characters, but as the player character, I could not help but wonder, how do Varic and I (Rook) know each other? How did we meet and why exactly am I here? In other words, what was my back story and how did come to be here? In addition, the more I played the more apparent it became that my character Rook really was not the main protagonist. My character really did not have any reason to be in this role. I mean, other than a quick few lines from a codex entry and some throw away lines mixed into a ton of meaningless dialog indicating your Rook in the main protagonist, there is no tangle reason why your character should even really give a rip about what is happening.

As for the music, I thought Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe’s composition was out of place and bit too futuristic for the overall setting. At certain times I got the impression I was playing a bit more of a sci-fi genre than a dark fantasy RPG with the music. In short, I would say the music did not help with my immersion into the game very well at all.

I choose the lowest difficulty level to fully concentrate on the story and it is here where I the most problems. For starters, I found the story to be weak, inept, and quite amateurish! It is clear the story writer(s) for this game were inexperienced and unskilled as they did not stay true to or respect the history and lore associated with the franchise. For instance, my previous choices from all the previous adventures were simply ignored or frivolously disregarded with a brush of a codex entry or throw away comment by a companion or NPC. Really? Is it not this feature that made BioWare such a great studio back so long ago?

Next, the dialog is more modern day and juvenile. It was as though it was written by a complete novice or second-grader. I expected much better from folks who are supposed to be professional game / dialog writers. For instance, the world of Thedas is in danger of being destroyed and the dialog from your party members is pollyannish at best. Their dialog is one of complete optimism and no urgency about the grim things that are happening. If I disagreed with the comment(s) of a companion or NPC, I did not truly have the option of saying something different or down-right ugly.

And if that was not enough, the identity politics dialog was completely immersion breaking, ham-fisted, and utterly offensive. The writing and interchange by your party members is utterly inconsistent with the established lore and times. Again, in previous DA stories, these types of topics were well written, presented with care, and within the context of the place or society within Thedas!

In addition to the story, the combat – for me - was a weak, demure, and tedious especially as the game went on. The enemy types are too few and damage sponges. By the end of this train wreck of a game, I did not want to engage in any of the combat because it was just a rinse and repeat from a task lazily done and created. Other, true DA titles not only had dark, gritty villains, monsters, darkspawn, and demons that appeared utterly menacing and fearful, but were each unique, varied with their own attack sequences and patterns. I found this part of the game to be completely void of creative talent and understanding of the previous adventures and lore.

As for what BioWare and EA did well on this title…

First, the environmental settings were extremely well done. The non-executive, front-line programmers and developers who worked on this aspect of the game are highly commended for creating an environment consistent to the original concept art and lore of the Dragon Age franchise. It is certainly evident these folks poured their passion into this aspect of the game. Very well done!

Second, BioWare / EA certainly “rooked” me into believing this piece of work was a “return to form” for the franchise. This so-called “return to form” is an utter lie. It is now apparent that the gaming media is a lap-dog to studios and publishers. The $80 price tag for the deluxe edition was a scam and simply a money grab.

Third, the “veil” of was kept over this piece of work until it was too late to get a refund. The further I got into this title in name only, the worse it got and I found myself not enjoying anything about it at all!

And lastly, they succeeded in firmly raising my “guard” for any other products they may release in the future. In other words, I have absolutely no faith that BioWare or EA will be able to deliver a quality Mass Effect game that is true to its lore and that is not riddled with bad writing and identity politics.

Given the monetary resources available to BioWare via EA, this game does not live up to a AAA game studio title at all! I would not recommend this game at all. It is not in-line with the other games within this franchise. If someone does decide to buy and play this title, I would suggest paying only $5-$10 USD.

Rating: 0/5

I never thought I'd be a person who would thumbs down a game he spent 200 hours on, but here we are...

When senior writer David Gaider left Bioware he said Bioware no longer cared about writing quality, and man was he right. This game is embarrassingly poorly written in every way. The dialog is the worst millennial snark, the tone is Saturday morning cartoon shenannigans, the depth and maturity in the previous games has been completely stripped out. This game's writing is so afraid to challenge anyone, to make anyone think, to offend anyone, to have anyone take it seriously, that it ends up childish and boring.

The game's original muiltiplayer design is also all over it. All real dialog comes from quest steps, there's no real wandering around town talking to people. Levels feel like linear loot grind missions. Companions rarely chime in during dialog or appear in cutscenes unless it's specifically their companion quest. Even the kid's show tone is likely rooted in this desire to be an online game played by a billion Fortnite kids.

Why did I play it so long? Well the combat is actually really good! Making character builds with a plethora of choices and combinations of skills, gear and tactics is great stuff. That's what I spent most of my time doing, and I had fun doing it. I also wanted to see how the story of this franchise (likely) ended, despite the awful writing.

However from any kind of objective point of view this game is not that good. It's not good as a story whatsoever, it's not good as an RPG because of obvious limitations of multiplayer design, and it's not good as a Dragon Age sequel because of gameplay changes and childish storytelling. Maybe you'd get addicted to the combat and character builds like I did, but does that make it a good game? No. A game I can recommend to RPG players? No.

Thus 200 hours equals a thumbs down, and I don't feel silly doing it.