14 DAY TRIAL // When I first completed the single-player campaign of Dragon Age: Inquisition I felt a sense of achievement and dread, and these are the sentiments that assault me every time I think about one of the main characteristics of the new BioWare title: its size.
The developers cleverly first deliver one major zone for gamers to explore, with plenty of quests to take on and activities to undertake, and then they create an impressive moment when they reveal that at least three other areas of the title are just as big and content-packed.
At first, the amount of freedom and the size of the world were great, given the relative austerity of Dragon Age 2, but as I put more time into Inquisition, I became more ambivalent about it.
Most fans of the role-playing and the fantasy genres will quickly say that they want big stories to explore, but I suspect Inquisition will convince at least some of them that a smaller scope could have been a good idea.
I love spending time in the world BioWare has created, but there are times when I question whether this is the best use of my time.
Dragon Age: Inquisition might be too long to be replayable
Some of the great joys for the series have been to explore how different choices affect the ending and the state of the world, role playing different types of heroes, exploring the backgrounds and various character classes.
I first got through Inquisition as a female human rogue focused on dual wielding and stealth, making those decisions that felt organic to me given my own beliefs and the circumstances BioWare created.
After finishing the main story I still have a lot of side content to explore and plenty of mysteries to solve.
I also want to see how the world can turn up if I am a religious zealot or if I make a Qunari the leader of the Inquisition.
The problem is that exploring these possibilities requires at least about 30 hours of play time, and time is at the moment in rather short supply, given the number of big games that are coming out.
My advice to all those who get Dragon Age: Inquisition is to make sure that their first run through the game is as complete as possible and reflects their personality because it’s entirely possible that it will take a long time to complete a second or a third playthrough.
